After Story: Resolve
by Magnus Prime
Summary: An 'After' story based on Mei's route from the VN/Anime 'Clannad'. Mei returns with another plan to help her 'onii-chan' better his life, and Tomoya finds himself caught up in her quest.
1. The New Routine

**Mei After Story: Resolve**

 _A Tomoya /Mei fanfiction_

 **Chapter One: The New Routine**

I yawned as I handed in my math homework. I thought back to when I would sleep through math class; it seemed so long ago...

"Good job, Okazaki-kun," Fujibayashi said as I turned to head back to my seat.

"Thanks, Mom," I quipped with a sleepy smile, earning me a giggle from the class rep. "The new sleep schedule is hard, but I'm getting used to it…slowly."

She giggled again. "I-I understand; new routines are so hard, aren't they?"

I nodded as I hid another yawn behind my hand.

"W-Well, I believe in you," Fujibayashi said as her face tinted red. "I believe you can do it."

"Thanks," I grunted. "Can I go back to my seat now?"

"Oh! I'm sorry!" She blushed even deeper. "Please, go ahead. I didn't mean to keep you."

I fell back into my chair next to a sleeping Sunohara and thanked whatever god out there this was the last day of school before summer break.

* * *

"You look like crap," Sunohara offered as we grabbed our bags to leave school for the day.

"Thanks, you too," I countered.

"I'm serious," he replied. "You okay?"

I rubbed a hand across my face. "Yeah, my sleep's kinda messed up." What I said was true, just not in the way he would likely think. "I'll be giving you the day off."

He rolled his eyes. "Thanks."

As I walked home by myself I thought about the reason for my new routine. "Mei…it just had to be…"

At first I had thought it was because Sunohara had a skill that he could use if he ever got his act together, while my skill had been lost with my shoulder injury, so I was studying to compensate somehow. But later I realized that something about the energetic thirteen-year old must have sparked something in me, because shortly after she left for home I found myself waking up earlier, getting to school on time and actually paying attention during class. I'd even started to work on catching up on what I missed from my first two years of high school.

Maybe it was because I wanted to be someone she could be proud of…

"Like an older brother," I chuckled. "It's been a while; I wonder how she's doing, anyway?"

"How who's doing?" came a familiar voice from nearby. I turned and…crap.

Kyou and Fujibayashi stood a surprisingly short distance away; surprising in that I'd normally have seen them already. I must have been in really deep thought. Of course Fujibayashi wasn't a problem, but Kyou…

"Fancy seeing you out and about!" Kyou chirped as she and her sister approached me. "What'cha doing?"

"What do you mean 'out and about'? I'm just heading home," I replied, hoping she would take the hint. "Shouldn't you be heading home, too?"

Fujibayashi somehow managed to beat her sister to the answer: "Mother asked us to pick up a few things on the way home, so we're on our way to the market."

"So where's your bi-"

I didn't get the chance to finish my question as Kyou clapped her hand over my mouth. "I don't have one of those, remember?" she growled sweetly.

I sighed and nodded; I was in no condition to verbally spar with the abusive older twin.

Apparently satisfied, she took her hand off of my mouth. "Good. Well, since you're here, you can help us with the shopping!"

"Oh, goody," I said in a monotone.

Fujibayashi had the decency to look sympathetic but Kyou, as usual, ignored my signals. "I knew you'd be happy!"

I ended up dragged around the town again, carrying bags for the girls and cursing my spinelessness again. I was already exhausted and I still wanted to get to my studies from first year…

"So," Kyou asked between stores, "what girl were you talking about?"

"Huh?" I asked, momentarily confused. "Oh. None of your business."

"Oh, really?" She gave me a sly smile as I looked to Fujibayashi to rescue me; the poor girl could only give me an apologetic look. "Well, since you can't tell me who it is, I'm just going to have to guess, right?"

"You don't even have to guess!"

Her smile turned nearly feral. "Is it Ryou? My my Tomoya, I never knew you thought of her that way…what should I do about that?"

"O-Onee-chan!"

"All right, all right, I'll stop teasing him, Ryou."

Finally Kyou finished having her fun with me, and I carried the bags up to the front door of her home. "Ryou and I can take them from here," she said. "Unless you'd like to carry mine to my room."

"No thank you," I retorted.

Kyou's gaze noticeably lingered on me before she followed her more apologetic sister inside, closing the door on me.

* * *

I rotated my injured shoulder as I passed through the doorway to my house. "Well, maybe I can at least get some math in; it's one of my easier subjects."

I thoughtlessly grabbed some kind of snack, put it on a random plate and headed up to my room. I normally wouldn't eat in my room, but I wanted some kind of energy for my studies; I didn't want to go to bed too early and mess up my sleep cycle…such as it was.

I glanced at the clock. "Six-thirty, huh?" I looked at my plate. "Maybe I should've grabbed dinner instead. Damn that Kyou!" I took my plate and headed back downstairs. "Hard enough trying to start a new routine without her throwing it off even more."

I continued to grumble as I put the snack away. As I was washing the plate I heard a knock at the door. "Who could that be?" I put the plate in the drainer. "Oh well, I'm headed out anyways."

I made my way to the front door and opened it. "Good eve-" My brain almost shut down as it registered who my guest was.

Sunohara Mei stood on my front porch wearing her school uniform and a sheepish smile.

"Hiya," she greeted with a finger-wave.


	2. Another Request

**Chapter Two: Another Request**

"Thank you," Mei said as I handed her a warm cup of tea.

"You're welcome." I settled into the chair across from her. Her presence seemed to ward off some of my sleepiness. "Does Suno-er, your brother know you're here?"

She shook her head, sending her twintails waving as she set her cup on the kotatsu between us. "No, he doesn't, and I don't want him to know."

I was sure my puzzlement showed on my face. "Why not? Are you here to check on his progress again? I mean, I won't tell him either way."

"No no, not this time," she replied as she waved her hands. Reclaiming her cup, she took a long drink from it, apparently to give herself time to think about her answer.

Finally, she set her cup down again. "I'm actually here to see you, Okazaki-san."

I felt my face start to heat up; I really hoped that it wasn't turning red. "Me? W-Well, it's good to see you again too, but…why me and not your brother?"

"Well…" She seemed really uncomfortable with what she wanted to say, which made me a little uncomfortable. The last time she was around I had acted as a 'boyfriend' to her to get Sunohara to act like a big brother again. Our acting was a little too convincing in my opinion, and I ended up unsure what she really thought of me.

Eventually she finished her thought: "I'm still worried about Onii-chan. Not as worried as I used to be, but…" She sighed heavily. "It bothers me that he's so good at soccer, but his personality keeps him from being able to play. He could be a professional player if he wanted!"

I thought about the times I'd seen him play. "I see what you're saying. I've seen him goof around with a soccer ball a lot in PE, but even I could tell that he's skilled with it."

"You see?" she pressed. "He was the best in middle school, but…" she sighed again. "It makes me sad that he's his own worst enemy."

"So…"

She suddenly sat up straight. "So I am here to ask you to help me get him into a professional soccer team before he graduates."

It was a good thing that I wasn't drinking tea; I would have spat it out at her declaration. "Are you serious?! Do you know how much work that would take?"

She nodded solemnly. "As far as I know he hasn't played in almost two years, so he would have to start practicing."

"Yeah, so that means he would have to work on his endurance and strength as well as getting back any skills he might have lost." I rubbed at my face, feeling the fatigue settle in again. "That's a pretty tall order, not to mention that his attitude is his biggest problem."

"Yeah," she agreed as she looked down at the tabletop. "It's just that-"

My stomach growled. Loudly.

Mei had the courtesy to look embarrassed. "I'm sorry, Okazaki-san; did I interrupt your dinner?"

"Not really," I replied as I covered my stomach with a cushion. "I…I was just heading out to pick up dinner when you knocked."

"Oh!" she chirped before looking toward the kitchen. "Well, I can see if I can make something for you while we talk."

I gestured lamely. "If you can find something, then…thanks."

She smiled before hopping from her seat and heading to the kitchen. It wasn't long before a delicious smell floated in. I smiled as I shook my head. "How do you women do that?"

"Do what?" Mei had suddenly appeared in her seat across from me.

I jumped at the sudden intrusion. "N-Never mind. You were about to say something about your brother?"

"Huh? Oh!" she smoothed her hands across the white fabric of her uniform skirt. "I just don't want Onii-chan to end up as a salaryman if he could become something…better?"

Something about the way she said that got my attention. "Wait, I feel like I'm missing something here."

"Did Onii-chan ever tell you about the agreement he had with our parents?"

I did recall something like that, but… "I think he said something, but I can't remember what he said."

"Oops! Excuse me." She quickly got up and went back to the kitchen.

I followed her to the kitchen area and leaned against a nearby wall. "There; now you can tell me while you cook."

She flashed me a grateful smile before returning her gaze to the stove. "He agreed that if he didn't make it to university, he would come back home and look for work where we live."

"That's right," I said as the light bulb flickered on. "Now I remember."

"I don't want him to come back home if he could do better." I could almost hear a pout in her voice, causing me to smile. "Onii-chan's much better than that."

"So he's been given two choices, but you want to give him a third?"

The hand stirring the pot slowed. "Yeah. If he could get on a professional team he could make a lot of money doing something that he's always loved."

I excused myself from the kitchen, settled back into my seat and leaned back on my hands. I'd always thought of Sunohara as a slacker like myself, just with reasons of his own. It had never occurred to me that the idiot could be…gifted? I mentally smacked myself. "I've seen his skill with the ball, and yet…" I rubbed my chin. "I guess if I can help get one of us out of this….rut…"

"Here you go!" Mei put a plate before me, snapping me out of my reverie. On it were vegetables, meat and, of course, rice.

I didn't know what the dish was called, and I was hungry enough to not care. "Itadakimasu." I noticed that Mei had a smaller version of my plate in front of her, and I gestured toward it. "Is that going to be enough for you?"

She giggled softly. "I'm fine. I'm a growing girl, but I'm not growing that much." Her face grew serious. "So…will you help me?"

I smiled wryly as I shook my head; what was it about the phrase 'help me' that caused me to give in so easily? "I don't know how much I can help, but…let's do it."


	3. A Proposition

**Chapter Three: A Proposition**

The afternoon of the first day of summer break found me in Sunohara's dorm room. Mei and I had decided that she should stay behind so Sunohara wouldn't become suspicious.

"So…" I tried to say casually as I stretched, manga still in hand. "…have, uh, you given any thought to what you're going to do after graduation?"

Sunohara simply stared at me. "Who are you, and what have you done with Okazaki?"

"I'm serious," I persisted. "You know once winter break gets here we're going to have to either find a university or a job." I gestured to him with the manga. "You're still good at soccer, right? You should try playing professionally…hey, don't look at me like something you found on the bottom of your shoe!"

"Okazaki…what's gotten into you?"

"Nothing, really! It's just a shame for all that talent to go to waste. I mean, tell me honestly: wouldn't you like to make a bunch of money doing something you already love to do?"

He seemed to consider my question before narrowing his eyes at me. "Have you been talking to Mei-chan?"

I had to think of a lie that wasn't a lie, and quick. "Your sister? Well yeah, of course. We talked a lot while she was here, right?"

"Right," he intoned, eyes still narrowed.

"So…" I continued lamely. "What about it? Soccer?"

His gaze softened, and I could see the middle-schooler in him playing soccer, scoring goals, outmaneuvering his opponents… "Yeah…" he breathed with a small smile. "…that would be…" He then seemed to catch himself. "It wouldn't work," he decided. "I can't even get into the club here anymore. How am I supposed to get into a professional team?"

I smiled; so, he was considering it. Good. "Well, we'd just have to get your skills back, and we don't need the club for that. Besides, the only reason they wouldn't let you back in is because they're a bunch of jerks, anyway."

He leaned forward. "How would I practice? Where would I practice?"

"Good question." And I mulled it over. "You have a ball, right?"

Sunohara looked around his disaster of a room. "Somewhere, yeah."

"And as long as we rake it afterward, we could use the field at the school."

Sunohara leaned back with a look of disbelief. "You're serious about this, aren't you? You really want to see me get into soccer again?"

I scratched my head. "I think it would be good for you. You'd be happy, your sister would be happy, and…well, you remember the deal you told me that you had with your parents?"

A light seemed to go on above his head. "Yeah, and if I can get into soccer as a pro, maybe they wouldn't make me go back." He looked at me again, more seriously this time. "I could play again."

"One small problem," I noted, holding up a finger. I didn't want to bring it up, but: "Your temper. Is it going to be a problem?"

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN MY TEMP-" he started, then slumped with a sigh. "I got it."

"So he said 'yes'?!" Mei was leaning so far forward that she was almost laying across the kotatsu. "You're amazing, Okazaki-san!"

I gave an embarrassed smile as I shook my head. "But now the real challenge starts. Getting him to start was a one-shot thing; now we'll have to get him to stay on it, see it through to the end." I leaned forward and caught her gaze with my own. "So, when do you come into the picture?"

She immediately broke the gaze, looking away with a thoughtful expression. "That's right; I need to help him, too." She looked to me. "Do you have any ideas?"

"Me?" I looked at her incredulously. "You're the one who wanted this; you come up with the plan!"

She rubbed her head hard enough to loosen one of her hair ribbons. "I didn't think this far ahead! I didn't even think he'd agree!"

I sighed and ran my fingers through my hair. "Okay, let's see…what are our resources…?" I looked up at her. "How long are you going to be able to stay and help?"

"All summer," she replied without hesitation. "As far as my parents know I'll be with Onii-chan all summer."

"Okay, at least that's not a lie…" I mused. "Wait…all summer?!

She gave me a catlike grin. "Yup, you'll have the pleasure of a cute girl at your house aaaaaallll summer!"

I buried my face in my hands. "At least Dad's visiting Grandma, so he won't be a problem." I leaned back to see a strange expression on Mei's face. "What's wrong?"

"N-Nothing!" she blurted with a nervous chuckle. "I was just looking forward to meeting your dad!"

"Meeting my dad…? You met him the last time you were here, didn't you?" At her evasive look I gave up. "Oh, never mind. Sorry you'll miss him this time."

"That's okay; I'll see him next time." Before I could reply she continued: "Anyway, I'll be here all summer, so I'll be able to help."

"Okay, so when?" I went back to rubbing my chin. "Well, we need a way to introduce you, so…how about in a couple of days? You could call him in a couple of days and tell him that you're here in town. We could meet wherever he's practicing and go from there."

She leaped to her feet. "Yeah! We'll do that!" She threw herself on me and hugged my shoulders. "You're a genius, Okazaki-san!"

I chuckled awkwardly as I tried to pry her off my neck. "I'm not a genius, Mei-chan, but thanks." I gave the situation more thought as she settled back on her side of the kotatsu. "I should probably let him set the pace, since I'm no expert when it comes to soccer. I should probably borrow a couple of soccer books so I can help better, too."

"Okazaki-san…"

I returned my gaze to Mei, who sat with tears pooling in her eyes and her hands folded before her. "Mei-chan, are you okay?"

She blinked, and tears trickled down her cheeks as she nodded slowly. "Thank you so much for helping Onii-chan."

I smiled with a snort. "Don't thank me yet; we still have a long way to go."


	4. Day One

**Chapter Four: Day One**

Fortunately the soccer club had the next day off, so Sunohara and I stood out in the school's soccer field and stretched. Well, he mainly stretched while I mainly waited. After all, he was the one with the promising future in soccer. We had planned to use the field for practice, and then rake and otherwise tidy up after ourselves.

After finishing his stretches, Sunohara started running at a light jog. We had worked out the best routine to help him get back in shape, starting with helping him regain his endurance. He had been active in our PE classes, so he hadn't lost too much, but fooling around in PE wasn't the same as training for actual matches, kinda like how standing around and shooting hoops wouldn't ever have gotten me ready for a basketball game.

His attitude…? Well, I had some ideas, but I wasn't ready to tackle that problem just yet. One thing at a time, and the easy stuff first.

"When are you gonna pick up the pace?!"I yelled at his diminishing form.

"Don't rush me!" he retorted. "It's been a long time!"

Oh, well; at least he knew that I'd be paying attention to his progress. Or lack of such.

To kill time as he jogged, I thought back on The Plan. It wasn't really complicated 'on paper': Help him build up his stamina and strength, then his soccer skills, and then his attitude. The problem is that Mei and I would likely end up dealing with his attitude while building up his strength and skills. Ever since he was kicked off the soccer team he'd taken on a 'quitter' mentality, and I expected that he would try to give up the minute things got difficult.

In fact… "Sunohara! Move your ass!"

He had already started plodding along and he was only halfway through his first lap. "Move your own!" he yelled back, and I could hear more than a little fatigue behind his words.

For all intents and purposes I ignored his reply. "Come on, Mr. Hat Trick; aren't you better than this?"

That got results as his pace noticeably picked up. The way he was running told me that he was genuinely tired, but he was soldiering on. I smiled to myself; if he kept this up he'd have his strength and endurance back up in no time.

I gave him a thump on the back as he passed the fourth lap. "You're doing great! Keep it up!"

"I can't believe I'm this out of shape!" he whined.

I started jogging to stay with him. "Well, you're been out of the game for a while, so it's not surprising. But keep this up and we'll find a way to get you on a real, paying team."

"That would be nice," he wheezed.

* * *

Mei nearly jumped into my shirt when I got home. "Well? How was he? How did Onii-chan do?"

She probably would have asked these questions on an endless loop had I not pushed her into her seat and given her a can of tea. "Calm down Mei, calm down! He was fine – a little out-of-shape, but he worked hard today."

"What a relief!" she sighed. "After the way he was the last time I visited…"

"He tried to quit, but he wasn't too serious about it. About quitting, I mean." I smiled as I smacked a fist into the palm of my hand. "In any case, I didn't let him quit."

"What did he do today?" she asked between sips.

"Just some laps around the soccer field." I shrugged. "That's what he chose to do, and it made sense to me."

"At least he's moving again," she mused.

"Well, he's bragged about being stronger than me," I noted. "If that's true then it shouldn't be too long before he can start practicing soccer again to get his skills back." I smirked conspiratorially. "So…when are you going to call him to tell him you're here?"

Her eyes became unfocused as she lowered her mug. "If he's doing this well, maybe I should call tomorrow or the day after, like you were talking about."

"That sounds good," I replied. "He already thinks that I've been talking to you about this, so a delay might be good."

Mei's face took on a worried look. "Maybe I'd better stay inside until then."

"Why's that?"

She crossed her arms. "Well, if I run into him while I'm out buying groceries, that could mess up everything."

"No…" I shook my head. "He'll probably stay in his room, so…waitaminute…he might go out running if he's fired up, so yeah, maybe you'd better stay inside until you call."

"Yeah," she agreed with a nod. Then she looked around. "At least I won't be bored; this place is a mess."

I rubbed the back of my neck. "Yeah, sorry. Dad and I aren't the best at keeping house."

"Where's your mom?"

My hand froze mid-rub. "She's, uh…gone."

Mei's hands flew to her mouth. "Oh, I'm so sorry! I didn't know or I wouldn't have-"

I held out my hands in appeasement. "It's okay, Mei-chan; it didn't come up the last time you were here, so of course you didn't know."

She looked at me sadly. "I wish you still had your mom."

I smiled, feeling a small lump in my throat. "Yeah, me too. I think things would be a lot better if she was still around."

"Is your shoulder okay? You're rubbing it a lot."

"Huh?" I looked to see my hand rubbing at my injured shoulder; I must have started doing it without thinking. "Oh…this is one of the things that probably would be better if Mom was still here."

"What do you mean?" Curiosity shone in her eyes.

I sighed and told her my life's story; Mom's death, Dad's alcoholism and, finally, the fight that injured my shoulder. She paled as I told my story but never asked me to stop.

"That's terrible," she said when I finished. "No wonder you seemed so sad when I first saw you."

'It's fine," I remarked somewhat lamely. "I seem to be doing better now; I'm able to get out of bed in the morning and get to school on time. Shoot, I've even started catching up on stuff I missed from my first two years."

"Amazing," she breathed. "What did…what made you change?"

"Well, I-" I started, then caught myself. Did I really want to tell her that she was the reason? "Let's uh, just say that…I was inspired!"

She looked at me with a sly smile. "It's a girl, isn't it?"

I winced. "You could say that…yes."

The expression in her eyes changed from sly to stars in a heartbeat. "Really? Who is she? I won't tell, I promise!"

The pleading look in her eyes almost made me spill the beans, but I kept control. "I'd…like to keep that to myself for now."

She gave the cutest pout I'd ever seen. "Fine. But I'll make you tell me someday."

I had no doubt that she would succeed…which worried me a little.


	5. Day Two

**Chapter Five: Day Two**

The next day I joined Sunohara on his run. I didn't want to give him any reason to make fun of me, so I took the opportunity to get myself back into shape as well. After all, I hadn't been active for a couple of years either.

"Okazaki, you're slowing me down," I heard Sunohara complaining.

"Shut up," I replied. "I'm not the one trying to become professional."

"Whatever. Keep up or I'll leave you behind!" With that he started to pull ahead of me.

"Like hell I'm giving you any bragging rights!" I forced my body to move and started slowly catching up to him.

In the end it was useless, and Sunohara's back got smaller and smaller as he left me behind. How embarrassing.

Still walking in circles, he handed me a water as I came in from my fourth lap. "Good job, Okazaki."

"Shut up," I replied for the umpteenth time that day.

He clicked his tongue. "I'm serious; you've been away from basketball for a long time, too. Just being able to finish four laps on your first day is better than I did on mine."

I stopped short. "Oh. You're right." I gave him a sheepish look. "Sorry. Thanks."

He jerked his chin at me in acknowledgement as he brought the bottle to his mouth again. "Are you ready for another four, Okazaki?"

"Actually, I'm dead."

"Then I guess I'll be going on ahead," he taunted.

"Oh, no you won't!" I countered while trying to force my legs to move; I was really out-of-shape. "Just give me a minute and I'll be ready."

"Sure, sure," he said in a singsong tone. He was really starting to piss me off. "I'll wait."

I glared, still panting, as Sunohara started his second set of four laps. "See you later, Okazaki!" he called while waving back. I didn't even have enough energy to make an obscene gesture at him.

As he started his second lap, however, I was able to start walking. At least it was something.

He met me again halfway through his third lap; he kept his pace while slowing to match my speed. He looked like a rabbit hopping in place. "You okay, Okazaki? You don't look so good."

I grunted. "I'll be fine. I probably should have started the same day you did."

His tone turned sympathetic. "You know, you don't have to do this with me." The idiot was barely winded; how could he improve so much in just a day? "For the first time in a long time I'm really motivated, so you don't need to be out here if you don't want to."

I briefly considered his words. "What can I say? You inspired me."

"Gross."

"I just mean that seeing you run and do well makes we want to get back in shape, too," I wheezed.

"Even though…you know…?" He glanced at my shoulder.

I nodded, since I simply could not suck up enough air to talk. I stopped and waved him off to finish his set. I was breathing so heavily that I thought I could actually taste the oxygen.

In the end, Sunohara sent me home. "I'm gonna be here for a while, so you go ahead and take off. Get some sleep." He gave me ideas for food good for runners. "I think you'll notice a difference tomorrow," he said as he pointed me toward the school gate and gently pushed.

I snorted with a small smile. "All right. See you tomorrow," I said as I lifted a hand in a wave.

I could feel more than see Mei's worried look from across the kotatsu as we ate dinner. I figured if she had something to say, she'd say it.

I didn't have to wait long: "Okazaki-san; are you okay?"

I nodded. "I ran with your brother today and pushed myself a little too far."

"Is that why you asked me to make this?" she asked, gesturing to the meal.

I nodded again. "He recommended this food for runners, so I thought I should give it a try. Huh. Never thought he knew this much…"

I heard her giggle and looked up to see her smiling proudly. "That's Onii-chan for you. When he was in soccer he planned his meals to make sure he got all the nutrients he needed." She giggled again. "He'd drive Mom crazy with his meal requests."

"I can imagine," I said, chuckling softly.

Her expression fell serious again. "Are you sure you're okay, Okazaki-san? You look like you're in pain."

I didn't want to admit it but my calves were killing me, so I gave her the best fake smile I could. "I'm fine. Really. Thanks for worrying about me."

"It's your calves, isn't it?"

"What the…how did you know?"

"Shiishiishii…" she cackled. "Not telling."

I sighed. "Fine, my calves hurt, but it's fine."

"Unh-unh. After dinner, you're going to lay on your stomach while I work the knots out of you." I tried to protest, but she raised a hand and stopped me. "No 'but's."

I slumped in my seat. "Fine. Do what you want."

"Right here?"

I gasped and grabbed at the cushion as she gently squeezed a stiff muscle.

"Wow, I guess so."

I spent the half-hour after dinner trying to not crawl away from Mei's hands as they worked the knots out of my calves. I briefly wondered how Sunohara was doing; if my legs hurt like this, how were his? Hopefully he could get help if he was in pain.

Those thoughts were forcibly ejected from my mind as Mei found another knot. "Wow, this one is really tough," she said as my back arched. "That looks painful."

I flopped back down onto the cushion, spent. I couldn't even react to the pain anymore. All I could do was lay there as Sunohara's kid sister tortured me.

"That's a lot easier now." I felt her pat my back. "Good job, Okazaki-san."

"Thanks," I grunted.

She worked quietly for a while, and the only sound that could be heard were my occasional grunts of pain as she found another knot to work on.

"You know, you have really nice legs," she said somewhat out-of-the-blue. "They look really athletic."

"Well, I was in basketball, but it's been two years."

"I'll bet the rest of you looks good, too."

"Huh?" Had I heard her right?

I felt her hands suddenly stop moving. "I-I…"

"Mei-chan?" I propped my shoulders up with my arms so I could lift my head to look at her. "You okay-?"

"I'M DONE, GOOD NIGHT!" She scrambled to her feet and ran to the bathroom.

From what I could tell, she didn't go to bed until after I had fallen asleep.


	6. Park Practice

**Chapter Six: Park Practice**

Unfortunately the Soccer club was using the field the next day. "Where should we go?" Sunohara asked.

"Well, we could use a park if you're okay with that," I suggested. "How about the park in front of Furukawa Bakery? You could say 'Hi' to Sanae-san."

He replied with something R-rated, but agreed in the end. "Just…don't say stupid stuff to her husband, okay?" he pleaded.

"Don't worry, I already had my fun with that," I said, trying to console him.

As we rounded a corner we picked up a passenger. "Oh! Okazaki-san! Sunohara-san!" We turned to find Furukawa behind us, smiling and carrying several grocery bags. "What are you doing out here?"

"We're headed to the park across from your parents' bakery," I replied as Sunohara and I took her bags to carry them for her. "Sunohara's working on becoming a professional soccer player."

Her eyes widened. "Really? Sunohara-san, that's amazing!"

"Eh-heh." He chuckled as he rubbed the back of his neck with his free hand. "Um, thanks."

"What are you going to be doing today? I don't see a ball."

"We're working on building up his strength and endurance right now," I explained. "Once we're satisfied with that, then we'll start on his soccer skills."

"Can I help?" Furukawa asked with an eager look.

I looked to Sunohara. "Well?"

He looked at her appraisingly. "Well, I don't know…"

"Come on, she could at least cheer you on." I gestured to Furukawa. "Wouldn't it be motivating having a pretty girl cheering you on?"

"I'm… I'm not that pretty…" she protested.

"But you are pretty," I countered. "Right, Sunohara?"

I thought his head would roll off his shoulders with how vigorously he nodded. "Oh, yeah! Beautiful!"

She covered her face with both hands. "N-No I'm not…"

"But Sunohara thinks you are." I paused for dramatic effect. "Lady Furukawa, would you lend us your beauty?"

"Let…Let me think about it until we get home," her muffled voice squeaked from her hands.

* * *

I glanced to the side as Sunohara and I finished our second lap around the park. The Furukawas all sat at a picnic table in near the middle of the park, each with varying expressions. Nagisa, holding pom-poms that her mother had apparently given her, looked like she was focused more on trying to cheer correctly than on why she was cheering in the first place. Sanae-san sat with her hands folded in her lap, smiling brightly as she watched us run.

Her husband, Akio-san, was a different matter. His scowl was so deep that I thought it would create its own gravity field. Even after I had explained that Sunohara didn't know that Sanae-san was his wife, he still kept an eye on my friend.

Still, he could be encouraging at times. "Run faster, brat!" he would occasionally yell. This would be followed by an admonishing tone from his wife and an encouraging tone from his daughter. All in all they were pretty predictable.

"Good job, brat," Akio-san handed Sunohara a water as we finished our first set. "But I'm still not giving you Sanae."

"I know, I know," Sunohara gasped. "I really didn't know she was your wife."

"Akio-san." Here came the scolding tone again. "I told you that I never told Sunohara-kun that I was married. If you're going to be upset with someone, be upset with me."

"Sanae, would you please stop with the honorifics?" Akio asked through his cigarette.

Surprisingly, Sanae-san leaned toward her husband. "Akio-san…" she said, emphasizing the honorific, "…please stop bullying Sunohara-kun."

"All right, all right!" Akio grabbed at his head with both hands. "Just…call me Akio, please!"

Apparently satisfied, Sanae-san straightened and smiled brightly again. "Now that that's been settled, are you two ready to run again?"

I looked over to Sunohara. "You ready?"

"Yeah."

I looked over to Nagisa. "You ready?"

She awkwardly lifted one pom-pom over her head. "Go team?"

I looked back to Sanae-san. "We're ready." I then looked over to Sunohara, exchanged a nod and a smile, and set off on our second set of laps.

"You know," I said as we ran, "I think you're ready to add push-ups and other stuff." I glanced over at him. "What do you think?"

"Yeah, I was thinking of adding laps, but having more exercises would be better." He twisted his body several times; to work out kinks, I assumed. "This is getting kinda boring."

"Maybe sprints for variety?" I suggested. "Would those be useful for soccer?"

"Yeah! I should add those, too!"

"Well," I huffed, "how about we take out one set of laps, add sprints, push-ups, and sit-ups, and see what happens?"

"That sounds good," he agreed. "Starting tomorrow?"

I nodded. "Yeah."

* * *

"Good job, brat," Akio-san handed Sunohara a water as we finished our last set of laps.

"Thanks," he gasped as he accepted the bottle.

"Here you go, Okazaki-san!" I turned to see Nagisa approaching me with a water in her hand and a smile on her face. "You must be thirsty."

I accepted the bottle with what I hoped was a grateful expression. "Thanks." I uncapped the bottle and drank a little before pouring some on my head.

"Ah! Okazaki-san! Don't be wasteful!" she admonished.

"Nagisa-chan; Okazaki-san is hot from his run." Sanae-san said before turning toward me. "You were using the water to cool off, am I right?"

"Yes, ma'am," I replied. "Is it okay?"

Sanae-san looked to the side, and I followed her gaze to see a water fountain nearby. "The park has water fountains that you could use for your head, so…"

"I got it," I took another drink from the bottle. "Sorry Nagisa-san; I didn't mean to waste it."

Her face turned an attractive shade of red. "I-It's okay…I understand now…"

"Hey, Okazaki…" Sunohara had decided to join the conversation. "…you're not teasing Nagisa-san, are you?"

"No no, I'm fine!" Nagisa waved her hands as her face turned even redder. "It was just a misunderstanding!"

Our practice time ended with a good lunch provided by Nagisa and her mom.

"Tomorrow, then?" I asked Sunohara, offering my fist.

"Yeah. Tomorrow," he agreed as he gave my fist a bump.

All in all, the practice was a success.


	7. A 'Minor' Setback

**Chapter Seven: A 'Minor' Setback**

After talking to her brother as we had planned, Mei joined me on the walk to the park. As far as Sunohara knew, Mei had arrived last night and was staying at my place like she had last time.

Apparently he had told his sister what time we were supposed to meet, because when I came downstairs from my room she was waiting for me with breakfast. "We need to hurry up and eat," she told me. "I don't want to be late for Onii-chan's practice."

"Well, I don't either," I grunted. "I'm his 'trainer', after all."

She was awfully quiet during breakfast, and I watched as she ate to see if I could get some idea what was bothering her. Her face didn't give anything away, and the only time she spoke was to ask me to pass something.

One thing she did that I thought was odd, though: she wouldn't take anything from me directly. Meaning, if I passed something to her I would have to put it on the table, then she would take it. I made a mental note to ask her about it when she was feeling more talkative; maybe I looked sick to her but she didn't want to be rude or something.

On our way to the park Mei couldn't seem to make up her mind how close together she wanted us to be, which was really weird. With how clingy and affectionate she was during our first time together…maybe she was embarrassed by me? I was older than her by about four years, so maybe she thought that having me act like her boyfriend was a mistake.

I filed those thoughts for future reference as we entered the park. Unsurprisingly, Sunohara was already there, limbering up. "Onii-chan!" Mei cried as she launched herself at her brother, wrapping him in a viselike grip.

"Mei!" Surprised by the 'affection attack' Sunohara tried to pry her off. "Get off! Yes, good to see you, but I'm trying to warm up here!" Finally noticing my approach he said, "You ready for today?"

I shrugged. "Nope, but I made the commitment so here I am."

"Ah, Okazaki-san!" I smiled as I heard Nagisa's voice. I liked how she always sounded like she hadn't seen me in a long time. "Sunohara-san! Good morning!"

"'Morning, Furukawa," I replied, raising a hand. Sunohara simply waved. I noticed that Mei seemed to be studying Nagisa-no, more like assessing.

"And who is this?" Nagisa asked as she approached the siblings. "Is she a friend of yours?"

For some reason Mei decided to hide behind me instead of her brother as he introduced her. "This is my younger sister…Mei, stop hiding!"

I lifted my arm to get a good look at Mei's face…what was going on with her?! She looked almost hostile. "Mei, this is Furukawa. She's the friend I told you about. She's Sanae's daughter."

Mei's behavior was strange even compared to her usual: she slowly, cautiously almost, creeped out from behind me and approached Nagisa. All of a sudden, she leaped and threw her arms around Nagisa's neck. "Nice to meet you, Nagisa-san! Let's be friends!"

Sunohara looked at me as if to say _what's up with Mei?_ To which I could only give him a shrug of _damned if I know!_

A few minutes later Nagisa's parents joined us. "You ready for this, brat?" Akio asked, already working on a cigarette.

"Stop calling me 'brat'!" Sunohara fumed.

"Akio-san…" Sanae warned with a sweet smile before addressing Yohei. "Sunohara-kun, are you sure you're up to this today? You've been working so hard…I would hate for you to hurt yourself."

"Th-Thank you, Sanae-san," Sunohara managed to sputter while glancing nervously at her husband; apparently he was remembering when she had pretended to be his girlfriend. Not that I could blame him; she was a very beautiful woman. "I've b-been eating right and warming up before every workout, so…I should be okay."

"If you say so," Sanae replied in her usual melodious tone. "Oh! Mei-chan, hello! It's good to see you again!"

"G-Good to see you, too," Mei answered, sounding somewhat anxious.

"I hope you've been able to forgive me for deceiving you the last time we met."

Like pretty much everyone else who knew Sanae, Mei had no problem forgiving her and the two of them shared a hug.

Nagisa took the chance to come up to Sunohara and me. "I believe in you, Sunohara-kun," she said, turning beet-red. "You'll become a great soccer player and make it a great sport."

"Hey, what about me?" I feigned a hurt tone. "I'm working hard, too!"

I then got to enjoy the sight of a flustered Nagisa as she tried to save herself. "O-Of course, Okazaki-san! You're working hard, too! It's just…" Poor Nagisa's face fell.

I decided to show a little compassion. "I'm just teasing you. I understand what you're trying to do, I think. You're trying to encourage him because he's the one mainly working here, right?"

"Right," she said, reaching out to touch my arm. "I didn't mean-" She suddenly jerked her hand back. "Mei-chan? Is something wrong?"

"Mei?" I looked down and, to my surprise, Mei had placed herself between Nagisa and me. How could she have moved that quickly? Maybe I hadn't been paying attention? "Mei? What's going on?"

"O-Okazaki-san says th-that he understands." Apparently she was addressing Nagisa. Her voice had a weird tone to it, though. "S-So everything's okay. Okay?"

"U-Um, sure." Nagisa didn't seem to know what to make of the situation and, frankly, neither did I. "S-Sorry if I upset you."

"Excuse me, ladies." I quickly walked over and grabbed Sunohara in a headlock, dragging him away from the rest of the group.

When we got to what I thought was a safe distance I let go of him. "What the hell's gotten into your sister?" I demanded. "She's been acting weird since…well, ever since I mentioned Furukawa."

"How should I know?" he retorted. "She's been staying at your house, hasn't she?"

"Yeah, but you're her brother," I countered. "I just thought…" I threw my hands in the air. "I don't know, I guess I thought that maybe you could give me some insight or something."

He crossed his arms and looked back the way we'd come from. I followed his gaze to see Mei and Nagisa both staring at us, with Nagisa's mother apparently trying to talk to them, with a hand on each of their shoulders. Nagisa's dad was working on the grill and occasionally glancing at the trio of women.

"If another girl acted the way Mei was just now, I'd say she was jealous," Sunohara remarked.

"Jealous, huh?" I mused. "I could see that; she loves you almost to the point of having a brother complex." I didn't hear him respond, so I looked to him to find him staring at me in disbelief. "What?"

He stared at me for several more seconds before shaking his head. "You are such an idiot."

We didn't get to work out that day, but we did get to have a great lunch.

* * *

The moment we walked through the door I whirled on Mei. "What's gotten into you?"

Mei gave me a never-before-seen look of defiance. "Wh-What do you mean?"

I pointed at her. "You were really rude to Furukawa today. What did she do to you?" I let my hand drop. "Look, if there's something going on here I don't know about I want to try to help fix it."

Mei shook her head so vigorously that her twintails flew horizontally. "N-Nothing's wrong! I'm just uncomfortable around new people!"

"Uncomfortable?" I gave her a look of disbelief. "The last time you were here, you were hanging on my arm after, what, three days? That doesn't sound like 'uncomfortable' to me."

"You…! You…!" I watched in surprise as Mei tried to put together a sentence. "I'm taking a bath!" she bellowed as she stomped from the room.

I stood somewhat stupidly in the middle of the living room. What was going on with her?


	8. Improvements

**Chapter Eight: Improvements**

After a bawling out and a good night's sleep, Mei promised to behave better the next day.

In fact, it seemed like she was overcompensating as she held my arm as we walked to the park. I was tempted to ask what was going on, but decided against it. I'd already asked several times, so I figured she'd tell me when she was ready and no sooner.

After a bit of teasing from Sunohara (as well as the usual banter between him and Nagisa's dad) he and I started our updated routine.

After the usual stretching we headed out to do the usual laps around the park. After that we found a grassy area and dropped and did twenty-five push-ups. Twenty-five sit-ups later we'd get back up for the laps again.

As we did our second set of laps I looked over to where the others waited. As usual, Nagisa's dad was messing with the grill, her mom was watching us with her trademark smile, and Nagisa was still trying to figure out how to work her pom-poms.

I was impressed with Mei, however; like Nagisa, she also had a set of pom-poms but, unlike Nagisa, she apparently knew how to use them, as she danced and kicked, waving the pom-poms the whole time.

"Hey, Sunohara," I started when we were out of sight of the group. "Your sister a cheerleader or something?"

"Yeah," he replied with a smile. "She mentioned it in one of her letters, but I've never seen her do it before."

"Huh. Must be nice having a cute little sister cheering for you." I didn't hear a response, so I looked over to find Sunohara staring at me. "What?" I asked.

"You are such an idiot," he declared, almost mirroring our conversation from yesterday.

* * *

As everyone went their separate ways Mei latched onto my arm again. I looked to Sunohara, who gave me a stupid smile, before looking down at Mei again. "Um, Mei? Don't you want to spend time with your brother?"

She didn't look up but I could hear her voice quite clearly: "Yeah, but I'll go to his place later. Right now…I want a crepe!"

"You just had lunch, and…whatever." I gave up; once she set her mind to something there was no stopping her. I guess she and Sunohara had that in common, at least. "Fine, I'll treat you."

"Yaaay! See you later, Onii-chan!" She waved back at her brother, who returned her wave as we headed off.

"Wait; don't you want him to come with us?" I asked. "I can't treat him, but…"

"It's okay," she replied. "Like I said, I'll be going to his place later, so…" she pulled away and tugged on my arm, "…let's go!"

I ended up half-dragged all the way to the shopping district. "Take it easy, Mei!" I protested. "I just finished a workout not too long ago!"

She just giggled as she spied the crepe truck and pulled me up to it.

I pulled out my wallet. "So, which one do you want…wait, what do thirteen-year-olds like, anyway?"

"I wouldn't know," she sniffed. "I'm not thirteen anymore."

So her birthday must have passed since the last time I saw her. "You're not? When was your birthday?"

"June 11," she answered as she examined her crepe options.

"In that case: Happy Birthday!"

She looked to me with an embarrassed smile. "Th-Thank you."

"I should get you something…" I realized. "Other than the crepe; I'd already promised you that."

"I-It's okay, Okazaki-san, you don't have to get me anything."

It was too late, though; I took a step back and looked her up and down, trying to get some ideas on what I could get for her that I could afford on my extremely limited budget. Finally, I got an idea. "Okay, let's get your crepe and then I want to take you somewhere."

She looked at me worriedly. "Where are you taking me?"

"Don't worry," I tried to reassure her. "You've been there before."

"O-Okay." She still didn't seem convinced.

I gestured to the crepes. "Hurry up and pick one or I'll pick one for you." I had a sudden flash of inspiration as she opened her mouth. "Ah! Too late! Go sit on the bench over there and I'll bring it to you." I smiled as she grumbled under her breath all the way to the bench. I then turned to the server. "One Princess Crepe, please," I ordered as I pulled the amount out of my wallet. It was expensive, but if it brought a smile to her face…

"Here you go, sir," the server said as she handed me the monstrous treat.

"And your money," I replied.

I saw her glance at Mei as she took my money. "Is it for her?"

"Yes, ma'am."

She smiled approvingly. "Even with her pout, she's a cutie. You take good care of her," she finished with a wink.

"Wait, you don't understand. She's…" It was still hard thinking of Sunohara as a 'friend', but… "She's my friend's sister, staying over for the summer while he trains to be a pro soccer player."

The server's face fell. "Oh, I'm sorry dear. With the way you two were looking at each other I thought…"

What about the way we were looking at each other? "I-It's okay, ma'am; she is my guest, so I'll take good care of her anyway."

"What a nice young man you are," she said with a smile.

" _With the way you two were looking at each other…"_ Her comment repeated in my head several times as I made my way over to Mei who sat, still pouting, on the park bench. "Here you go," I said as I offered her the crepe. "A Princess for a princess."

Her pout quickly reformed into a smile at the sight of the enormous treat. "Okazaki-san! That must have been expensive!"

"Don't worry about it," I said as she accepted the crepe. "If I remember correctly, I ate parts of the last one that you wanted."

She nodded with her face buried in crepe. "I got over it, but…thank you for remembering." She pulled her face away from the treat and looked up at me from under her lashes. "Would you like a taste?"

Something about her gaze…I blinked as my heart skipped a beat. "Uh…n-no, thank you." I cleared my throat as I forced myself to look away.

"Okay." Her voice caused me to look back to her in time to see her pop a strawberry into her mouth. "Mmmmmmm…"

"Finally got the strawberry, huh?" I smiled, trying to ignore what had just happened.

She giggled through a mouthful of crepe.

"Well, you enjoy that." I leaned forward, resting my elbows on my knees as I looked around.

A few minutes later I heard the rustling of paper and looked over to see her crumpling up the wrapper as she swallowed the last of the crepe. "Thank you, Okazaki-san."

"You're welcome." I got up from the bench and held out my hand. "You ready to go pick up your present?"

She gazed at my hand before reaching out and taking it. "Y-Yeah…" It felt like she shuddered as she took it and helped herself up. Then she quietly took hold of my arm again and we headed out.


	9. Birthday Shopping

**Chapter Nine: Birthday Shopping**

I enjoyed the huge smile that spread across Mei's face as I opened the door to the Hundred-Yen store. "Are you serious?" she asked, clearly excited.

"Yup," I replied as I gently guided her through the front doors.

Like the last time, we managed to get ourselves in trouble with the staff for playing with the merchandise. We finally settled down when the manager came out as we were fighting with plastic robots.

"I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to ask you to leave if you're not going to buy something," he had said.

"I'm sorry. We're going to buy stuff; we just got kinda carried away," I explained.

He looked at me, then at Mei, then back at me before shaking his head with a smile. "Kids," I heard him chuckle as he headed to the back of the store.

"We probably better behave ourselves, Okazaki-san," Mei offered.

"Yeah," I said as I held up my robot. "Let's hold on to these; if I can afford them after getting your gifts, I'll buy them as an apology to the store owner."

Mei said nothing, so I looked over to find her gazing intently at me…and holding her robot a little too tightly.

I reached out to her toy. "Mei, let go. You're about to break it."

"Huh?" She seemed to snap out of a trance. "Oh! I'm sorry!" She handed me the robot.

I examined the previously-compressed toy. It didn't seem to have any damage so I returned it to her. "Just pay attention to what you're doing," I gently admonished her. "I don't want to end up paying for broken stuff."

"R-right." She held the toy as thought it was made of glass. "I'll be careful."

I smiled as I turned my attention to the rest of the store. "I know what I'd like to get you as a birthday present, but I'll get you whatever you want."

I felt her move up bedside me. "I'd like to get what you want to get me."

My smile broadened as I took her hand. "Let's go, then."

* * *

Fortunately, they had what I was looking for. "There it is," I said as I reached to claim my 'prize'.

The store had a section of hair ribbons and, based on the colors that Mei tended to wear, I had an idea what she'd like: a set of two pigtail holders made to look like koalas. The holder would be fastened by making the koalas 'hug' each other. "I thought you might like these," I said, showing them to her as she walked up.

Her eyes grew as big as saucers. "Seriously? Wow, they're so cute!"

I watched, amused, as she fussed over a pair of hair-holders. Of course as a guy I had no sense of fashion or what the 'latest trends' were, but I figured I knew how to buy cute things for a girl. And it looked like I did a good job.

She started to take them out of the packaging, but I stopped her. "Wait a minute," I said. I took the package from her, ran up to the counter, paid for them, then ran back. "Now it's okay," I said, showing her the receipt.

She quickly tore into the packaging. One by one she replaced the ribbons in her hair with her koala clips. "How do I look?" she asked when she finished.

"Cute, as always," I said as I tapped her on the nose, causing her to giggle.

I had the feeling that we were being watched, and looked to see a couple, probably in their late-forties, smiling at us.

I quickly relocated us to another aisle. "Is there anything here that you'd like to have?"

She gave me a puzzled look. "Why did you bring us over here?"

I sighed. "I was…uncomfortable with the way that older couple was looking at us."

"I saw them," she said with a small smile. "Maybe they thought we were a couple." She stepped closer and got up on her tiptoes to look into my face. "Does that bother you?"

I struggled for an answer. "I…just…don't like giving people the wrong impression."

She dropped back from her tiptoes to stand normally. "Are you embarrassed to be seen with me?"

"NO! Not at all!" I said, waving my hands defensively. "Actually…I've been concerned that I'm embarrassing to you." Seeing another puzzled look I explained, "I'm so much older than you are, that…that…"

Mei's expression softened into a smile as she stepped forward to give me a hug, resting the side of her face against my chest. "Okazaki-san; how old are you?"

"Seventeen. I'll be eighteen in October."

"And I just turned fourteen last month. That means we're only about…three-and-a-half years apart?"

I quickly did the math in my head. "That sounds about right."

"So ten years from now I'll be twenty-four and you'll be twenty-seven. Does that sound better?"

Out of the corner of my eye I noticed that the smiling older couple had found us again, and I gently pushed Mei away from me. "C-Could we pay for our stuff and go? I'm really uncomfortable with all this."

She looked up at me with what I could only describe as a lost expression, which served to kick me in the gut. "Okay."

* * *

"Have you ever thought of having your hair down?" I asked as we walked home from the store.

Mei reached up to touch her twintails. "I have it down when I sleep, but…do you mean, like, during the day?"

"Yeah."

She briefly glanced over at me. "Every once in a while, yeah. Why?"

I felt my face grow warm. "I dunno. I guess it's just that I've always seen you with twintails, so I was just curious."

"Do you think they're ugly?"

"No, not at all!" I held up my hands defensively. "They look really cute…and, uh…girly."

"Girly…" She sounded sad. Had I said the wrong thing?

"Mei…did I say something wrong?"

"No. No, you didn't," she answered, shaking her head. Then her face took on a thoughtful expression as she twirled one of her twintails. "Girly…"

I decided to keep my mouth shut the rest of the way home.


	10. Paperwork & Praise

**Chapter Ten: Paperwork & Praise**

It had been about a couple of weeks into the routine when I realized that exercise and training weren't going to be enough.

"Applications," I said, holding up a sheet of paper as we sat around the kotatsu in Yohei's dorm room. "We'll need to get as many applications from as many teams as we can."

"That sounds like a lot of work," Sunohara complained. Mei, sitting next to him, nodded in agreement.

"Probably," I said. "But that won't be your job. Your job will be to keep training." I gestured to his sister. "Your sister and I will be taking care of any paperwork, at least until she has to go back to school."

"How come only until then?" she asked.

"You need to focus on your studies, or you'll end up like your brother and me; trying to cram a future at the last minute."

She pouted but relented. "I understand."

"Anyway, I'm not worried about you anymore," I said to Sunohara. "I'm surprised I only had to kick your butt for a couple of days."

"What can I say?" he said with a grin. "You motivated me."

"Gross," I retorted with a grin of my own as we switched roles from the prior conversation.

The younger Sunohara looked back and forth between us, understandably confused. She hadn't been there for the conversation, so she was probably feeling a little left out. "So what are we going to do next?" she asked.

I leaned back on my hands. "Like I said, you and I will be getting whatever paperwork we need and fill it out. Then we send it back and wait for an answer."

"How many teams are there?" she asked.

"A lot," her brother answered. "You have the Professional Football League and the regular Football League, which still has a lot of professional players on them. Last I knew the J. League had about forty teams and the JFL had about…ten?"

"So we're going to be almost as busy as your brother," I said half-jokingly. "That reminds me…are you okay with her giving me your information? I'll probably need it for the paperwork."

He narrowed his eyes at me. "You're not going to do anything weird with it, are you?"

I narrowed my eyes right back. "I might sell it to the highest bidder."

"As long as I get a cut…"

I broke my facade. "Jeez, I'm just kidding! I'll only ask her for what I need for the forms, all right?"

He relaxed his face into a smirk. "It's fine, Okazaki." He turned to his sister. "Call me or Mom and Dad if you need to."

"Okay."

I tapped the top of the kotatsu with a finger. "Just so you know; Mei and I will be filling applications for as many teams as we can, so you may not end up on the Antlers at first."

He gave me a thumbs-up. "Got it."

I looked from one Sunohara to the other. "Well…let's go!"

* * *

I glared at the paperwork on my desk. Less than two days after I got off the phone with the team's office I had received the application. The problem was that I knew very little of the information that they were wanting. Medical history, previous addresses, extended family…they wanted everything.

"Are you okay, Okazaki-san?" Mei asked as she tidied my room. At least I didn't collect porn, so I didn't have to worry about her coming across it accidentally.

"It's just frustrating," I remarked. "I don't know even half the information they need." I looked over to her. "Would it be all right for me to make a list of things to ask your parents about?"

"That's why I'm your assistant!" she declared with a grin and a salute.

"All right, then!" I got out a blank sheet of notebook paper as I turned back to my desk. "I'll try to translate this from 'legalese' to Japanese and get it to you."

I felt a gentle touch on my back and looked up to see Mei softly smiling down at me. "Thank you again for…" she shook her head ever so slightly. "…everything."

I gave her a smile as well. "Like I said; don't thank me yet. We have a lot of work to do and about a month left to do it."

She nodded but continued to…study me.

"Mei?" I croaked, my throat suddenly dry. "I need to get back to work."

She nodded again. "I'll bring you some tea." She bit her lip as she turned and left my room.

I turned back to my desk one more time and sighed as I started on the list.

* * *

I gave her the list at dinner.

"Wow…" she breathed. "This is a long list."

I bowed my head. "I'm really sorry. It just…It never occurred to me that I'd know so little about your brother."

"It's okay," she said, shaking her head. "You wouldn't know about this kind of stuff anyway, so it's okay."

"When can you call your parents?"

She glanced at the clock. "I should be able to talk to them after dinner. I'll probably only be able to get about half of this tonight, but I can get the other half tomorrow." She looked across the kotatsu at me. "Is that okay?"

I shrugged with a smile of defeat. "Better than what I'd be able to do."

She returned my smile. "That's true." She looked down at the paper again. "Amazing…"

"What?"

"Just…you made sense out of that application enough to write this," she answered, still looking at my list. "You're amazing, Okazaki-san."

"Stop saying that…please."

She lowered the list to look at me fully. "Well, it's true! You tried to help Onii-chan back in April-"

"I helped him try to lie to you," I pointed out.

"Yes, but you were willing to help him and you came up with a way that would have taken care of me if it had been true." She tilted her head slightly. "You didn't have to do that."

"Well…it was…" I let my gaze drop from hers. "…it was funny watching him have trouble."

"Okazaki-san." Something in her tone drew my gaze back to hers as she started counting on her fingers. "You helped Onii-chan come up with a plan for dealing with me, you went along with my plan to get him back in the Soccer Club, you helped me try to get the club to let him in even when they were being mean to me, you fought them along with Onii-chan, and you made him remember me and fight for me." She leaned toward me. "You're wonderful, Okazaki."

I suddenly felt a little dizzy. "M-Mei…? I don't feel good. Leave me alone."

Instead, she moved closer. "You're not used to people saying nice things about you, are you? Well, you'd better get used to it." She paused. "You're wonderful, Okazaki."

The room was starting to spin. "S-Stop…"

"You're amazing…"

"No…I'm not." I held my head as the room started to tilt.

"You're incredible…"

I struggled to my feet, leaning against the wall as I tried to shut out her words. "I-I'm going to go take a bath…"

I stumbled to the door to the back hallway, only to find Mei in my path. "You're awesome…Tomoya."

"Mei…please get out of-"

Everything suddenly went black.


	11. Evasive Maneuvers

**Chapter Eleven: Evasive Maneuvers**

My eyes opened to see the ceiling of my home.

"Are you awake, Okazaki-san?" Mei's voice came from somewhere nearby.

"I think so," I replied to the disembodied voice. "What happened?"

Mei's face appeared above my own. "I think you fainted."

"Fainted?" I said, annoyed. "I don't faint."

"Well, you suddenly collapsed in any case," she remarked.

I tried to sit up, but she gently pushed me back down by my shoulders. "Not yet. You've just woken up, and I don't want you to hurt yourself by moving too soon."

I sighed and let my head settle back down onto the pillow. Pillows, actually. "Thanks for the pillows, Mei. Where did you find them?"

She didn't answer right away. After a long pause I heard. "They're…not pillows, Okazaki-san."

Now I was curious. "Then what-"

"Just rest," she said soothingly. "It's okay."

I relented and simply lay quietly as she gently caressed my face; it had an interestingly calming effect on me.

Eventually she let me up, and I turned to see what pillows she had used…and my face heated up.

The 'pillows' my head had been resting on were, in fact, her thighs. She sat in a kneeling position as she looked at me with a shy smile. "I worked with what I had," she offered as an explanation.

I rubbed at the back of my neck. "Um, thanks Mei. You, uh, have a comfortable lap."

Her face reddened before she hid it from me by looking down at the floor. "You're welcome. I'm just glad you didn't hit your head."

"I didn't? Wow, lucky me." There was a long way between my head and the floor when I was standing up, so…

"I caught you when you fell." She chuckled in her unique way. "I'm not strong enough to hold you up, but I was strong enough to slow your fall."

I felt all over my head and, sure enough, it didn't hurt anywhere. "Thanks…again," I said to her.

"You're welcome," she repeated. "Are you hungry? I can reheat dinner if you want."

"That'd be good, thanks."

As we ate she asked me about the items on the list to make sure she understood what I needed. I suggested talking to her parents myself, but she refused. "I'm not ready for you to meet my parents just yet."

"Um, okay." It wasn't like I was asking for her hand in marriage or anything, but I neither mentioned that nor even pressed the point. As long as I could fill out the applications I was fine, so I excused myself to take a bath while she talked to her parents.

As I soaked in the tub I thought about what we had done so far and what still needed to be done. Sunohara seemed to be doing well with his routine, so I didn't need to worry about him. Mei's presence seemed to be encouraging to him as well.

"I'm the weak link here," I told the bathroom ceiling. "Sunohara has the easy part, in a way."

I sat up in the tub and rotated my injured shoulder. It didn't really hurt; I guess I did it out of habit. "Well, I got him into this mess; I need to do my part."

I soaked and complained for several more minutes, then got out of the tub, dried off, and put on my nightclothes. Then, I wandered into the kitchen for my post-bath glass of milk.

Mei was still talking to her parents as I made my way into the living room with my glass. I sat against the wall and stretched my legs out in front of me.

Mei turned toward me as she spoke and, when she saw me, her eyes widened and she quickly turned away as her speech faltered.

I looked down at myself. I was wearing my usual light blue T-shirt, but it wasn't one of my printed ones. I didn't have any shirts with profanities or suggestive language on them, anyway. I didn't have any holes in it or my shorts. Of course, I didn't smell bad; I had just taken a bath. Ah, maybe that was it; I gathered my shirt and smelled it. It smelled fine to me.

I heard a gasp interrupt Mei's conversation, and I looked up to see her spinning away from me again, so I decided to leave the room. I didn't mean to be a problem, so I took my milk up to my room. At least I wouldn't be a distraction there and I could work on my studies. I would have to ask Mei about her problems with me later.

'Later' came a few minutes later when I heard her coming up the stairs. I turned, but all I saw was a sheet of paper on the floor just inside my room. I picked it up and, sure enough, it was my list, with about half of the questions answered. But Mei was gone. "Mei? Mei-chan?" I picked up my robe on put it on. Maybe I was dressed to casually for her liking; she was a middle-schooler after all, and she might have been sensitive about these kinds of things.

I made my way downstairs to find her tidying up in the kitchen. "Mei? Are you okay?"

I noticed that she wouldn't look at me. "I'm fine. I'm sorry I couldn't get all the stuff you needed."

"No, it's fine," I said, still worried. "You told me you'd only be able to get about half, so it's okay." I paused to think of how to ask my question. "Did I do something wrong?"

She glanced at me, did a double-take, and put down the sponge. "Y-You didn't do anything wrong."

"You seemed uncomfortable with me earlier. Do I smell bad?"

"No! Not at all!" she exclaimed while vigorously shaking her head.

"Was there something rude on my shirt? I mean, I didn't see anything, but…"

"No! Not at all!" Now she was hugging herself as she shook her head.

"Was I too casual or something? What'd I do?"

"Nothing! You're fine! I'm taking a bath!" she yelled as she ran from the room.

I was starting to think she was just using the bath as an excuse to avoid me.


	12. Reworking

**Chapter Twelve: Reworking**

It had been several days since the last time I ran with Sunohara, and I wondered how he had been getting along without us. Working on the paperwork had kept us from going, so I was looking forward to seeing how much he had improved. The Soccer Club wouldn't be using the field for the rest of the week so we had decided to use it like we had before.

As we walked I found myself repeatedly glancing over at my traveling companion. Mei had gone back to being subdued, which worried me. It seemed like I was messing up over and over again, but she wouldn't tell me what I was doing wrong. What confused me more was her saying nice things about me. What was it with her up-and-down behavior? Was she not feeling well?

Then it occurred to me: girls' emotions can go haywire once a month. Maybe she was dealing with that. I opened my mouth to ask, then thought better of it. If I was skating on thin ice, the last thing I should've been doing was asking her about that.

As we approached the soccer field my eyes widened. Not only were Nagisa and her parents there, the Fujibayashi twins were there, as well as the new Student Body President…Sakagami, I think her name was. A few other people who I didn't recognize at all were also milling about.

"Yo!" Sunohara greeted as we got closer.

"What's going on?" I asked.

"It's the Sunohara Yohei Fan Club!" he announced. "Nagisa's been telling anyone who would listen about me."

"Well, I thought that if you had a lot of people cheering you on, you'd work even harder and do even better!" I turned to see Nagisa walking up to us. "You've been working really hard, Yohei-kun."

'Yohei-kun'? Mei and I must have been thinking the same thing, because we looked at each other before looking back to Sunohara as he rubbed the back of his neck with an embarrassed smile as Nagisa praised his efforts.

"So, you ready?" he finally said, turning to me. "We've got a crowd today!"

I looked nervously at our potential audience, Kyou in particular. "I…not today. I'm not comfortable with an audience."

"Aw, come on…" He clapped his hands at me, and he suddenly looked more like the professional we wanted him to be. "Even Kyou's been cheering me on, and you know how she is."

"I heard that!" A familiar voice bellowed.

I smiled as he flinched with a look of worry. He recovered quickly, though. "C'mon Okazaki, I don't mind sharing the spotlight."

I sighed before looking over at Mei with a wry smile. "I guess I'll see you later, then."

"Do your best," she said with a shy smile of her own.

We warmed up a bit, then started on our first set of laps.

"While I can still talk…" I started half-jokingly, "…have you made any changes to the routine since last time? It's been a few days. Are you still doing the 4-25-25?"

"It's 8-50-50 now."

My stride faltered. "Are you kidding me? It's only been, what, five days?"

He managed to shrug while jogging. "What can I say? 4-25-25 was getting too easy."

I tried to imagine putting myself through that routine and failed. "When did you start the new routine?"

"Yesterday."

I shook my head with a smile. "Damn, Sunohara. You're a monster."

"Aren't I?" he said with a cocky smile. Normally I'd burn him for that kind of attitude, but I figured he'd earned bragging rights.

So I chose humility. "I hope you understand that I probably won't be able to keep up with you."

"That's okay; I'm just glad you're here." He glanced over at me. "Running isn't the same without you around to piss off."

I knew what he really meant, which warmed my heart…which made me uncomfortable. Guys' hearts aren't supposed to be warmed by other guys, after all. "Thanks, I think."

"Look, I know I used to hate that kind of talk, but…it's different now."

"What, are you into guys, now?" I started moving away from him.

"It's not like that!" he shouted. "It's just…you've acted like a friend, so…I think of you as a friend."

"You're making me sick-"

"WILL YOU KNOCK IT OFF?!" he yelled, almost causing me to lose my footing. "I'm serious, Okazaki! I want you to call me 'Yohei' from now on!"

My pace slowed. He thought that highly of me? All I had done was be a pain in his butt and fill out some paperwork with his sister's help. "I haven't done anything to-"

Our conversation was interrupted as we passed near the 'fan club', which had started cheering at our approach.

"Keep it up, Sunohara-kun," Sanae-san could be heard to cheer.

"Onii-chan!" I smiled at the flustered look on Sunohara's face as his sister cheered him on.

"Move your ass, brat!" That had to be Nagisa-san's dad.

"Yohei-kun! Do your best!" I glanced over to see Nagisa with another set of pom-poms, doing very little with them. I looked over at Sunohara, whose face was an interesting shade of red considering his fitness level. I found myself grinning evilly at the possibility of having something new to tease him about. Oh yes, 'Yohei-kun…'

"Go Tomoya!" I stumbled as Kyou's voice rang out clearly.

I quickly twisted around to point Sunohara out to her. "He's the one you're supposed to be cheering on, not me!"

"Shut up!" she retorted. "I'll cheer on whoever I want to!"

I could hear Fujibayashi's trademark "Onee-chan…" as we got out of earshot.

"That girl…" I mumbled.

"She's been cheering me on once since she and her sister started showing up a couple of days ago," Sunohara remarked. "But I think she's really been waiting."

"For what?"

He looked at me out of the corner of his eye but said nothing.

* * *

After the second set I felt like I was going to die. My arms were lead weights from the push-ups, my stomach had a small boulder in it from the sit-ups, and my legs had turned to jelly from all of the running.

"Almost done, Okazaki," Sunohara managed between breaths as he mopped his face with his shirt. At some point we had both gotten so hot that we had taken off our shirts, much to Kyou's delight. Her exact words had been 'Whoo!' if I remembered correctly.

"I…can't believe…I've…madeitthislong," I wheezed as I plodded along.

"You're tougher than you think," he said as the crowd came into view. I was impressed that they had stuck with Sunohara for this long for the last two days, maybe more. "Anyway…if it's like yesterday you'll get water thrown on you and someone'll give you a towel."

Cold water sounded really good at that point.

Finally, we crossed the finish point and started walking around with our hands on our heads to cool down. I tried to tune out Kyou's catcalls by thinking about the remaining teams we had to fill out paperwork for.

It was harder to tune out the bucket of water dumped on me, though. "Aaaugh!"

"Feel better, Tomoya?" Kyou's eyes nearly glowed as she dropped the bucket onto the ground.

Onee-chan!" Fujibayashi scolded. "You were supposed to wait a few minutes first!" She made her way over to me with a white towel, and I noticed that she deliberately looked away from me. I felt kinda bad for her, but I really wasn't ready to put my shirt on just yet.

"Thanks, Fujibayashi." I reached out for the towel, only to find another white towel next to it. I followed the arm up to find Mei holding it, who was also looking away.

"Here's a towel, Okazaki-san," she said quietly.

Not knowing what to do, I looked over to Sunohara, only to find him in a similar situation with Nagisa. I smiled before turning back to the girls. "Thanks, you two," I said as I accepted both towels.

"You're welcome," they said nearly in unison before looking at each other and blushing.

Eventually Sunohara and I cooled down enough to put our shirts back on, which finally cooled Kyou down, and we enjoyed a late lunch courtesy of Nagisa's dad's grill.


	13. Derailment

**Chapter Thirteen: Derailment**

I scratched away at the paperwork as Mei carefully massaged my shoulders. It had been two days since my last workout with Sunohara and I was still sore and stiff.

"You've been working really hard, Okazaki-san," she remarked as she worked on my left shoulder with both hands. "Working out with Onii-chan, filling out this paperwork…" She grunted as she pushed into a knot. "…I haven't seen him this happy in a long time."

I grunted in response to the massage as I filled out Sunohara's medical history for what seemed like the thousandth time. I felt Mei move from working on my shoulders to my upper back, and I made a mental note to thank her for it later. All of the push-ups had really caused my back muscles to tighten up, so I really appreciated her work.

After several minutes of writing I put the pen down to rub at my right wrist. I moved it and rotated it this way and that, trying to work out the stiffness that had set in. My eyes fell closed as I leaned back in the chair, and I felt her hands slide down my chest and squeeze me like she was hugging me. I let myself relax and felt the back of my head gently settle into her chest-

I bolted from my chair with a strangled shout. "I-I'm sorry, Mei! I d-didn't mean to get comfortable like that!" I was so ashamed that I couldn't even look her in the face.

She was quiet for what seemed like forever so I looked to her to find her with her head down. I could clearly see tears dripping from her eyes to the floor. "Mei...?"

She turned a tear-stained face up to meet mine. "Okazaki-san…why did you…?" She turned and ran from my room and down the stairs.

"Mei!" I ran after her, nearly falling down the stairs. I got to the living room in time to see her bolt out the front door, letting it slam it behind her. Unfortunately, I was in no shape to run after her so I grabbed the phone and dialed the number to Sunohara's dorm. "Pick up, pick up…"

" _Hikarizaka Boys' Dorm. This is Sagara."_

"Sagara-san? This is Okazaki. May I speak with Sunohara?"

" _Hey, Okazaki-san! Sure, let me see if he's here."_

"Thank you." With the way Mei had run off, I was worried that she'd get lost. "Come on, come on Sunohara…"

" _Okazaki?"_ came the familiar voice of my friend.

"Yeah, it's me. Listen, Mei just ran out of here crying and I'm in no shape to chase after her. I'm really worried about her and-"

" _You want me to find her and make sure she's okay."_

"Yeah. I'm really sorry; I'm trying to remember what happened just before she ran, but-"

" _S'okay. If she's upset she'll probably come here to see me."_

I was somewhat relieved, but… "Damn. It just seems like I'm messing up over and over again."

" _Don't worry, buddy. Everything'll be okay."_

"I hope so. Anyway, let me know when you find her, all right?"

I heard a chuckle at the other end. " _Sure thing, Okazaki. Just relax and let Yohei take care of things. Later!"_

I hung up and started pacing, trying to ignore the aching in my legs. I wished I was in better shape; I could have followed her and tried to find out how I could make things right.

* * *

I grabbed the phone before it had finished the first ring. "Did you find her?" I demanded.

I heard a chuckle from the other end. _"More like she found me, but yeah. She showed up at the dorm like I thought she would."_

"Is she okay?"

A long pause. _"Listen, she asked me to go to your place and pick up her stuff. She'll be crashing with Misae for a while."_

My heart sank. So it was my fault. "Sunohara, I swear-"

" _Yohei."_

"Yohei, I swear I didn't do anything to your sister."

" _I know; she told me everything before she'd let me call you."_ Another long pause. _"It's not your fault, you know."_

"Huh?"

" _I'll be over in a bit. Later."_

I still felt dodgy as Yohei removed his shoes and walked into the dining room. "As far as I know, all of her stuff is in there," I said, gesturing to the guest room.

He simply nodded and entered the room. A few minutes later he came back out with her backpack and the bags she had when she'd arrived. "Sorry about this, Okazaki."

I shook my head. "I just wish I knew how to make this right." I shrugged helplessly. "I mean, I don't even know what's going on, or…or what's wrong!"

He put down one of the bags to lay a reassuring hand on my shoulder. "It's nothing you can do anything about…yet." He gave me a lopsided smile. "Mei hasn't been honest with you, and she's going to be getting a serious talk from her 'Onii-chan' when he gets back."

I felt suddenly protective. "Wait, if you're going to get mad at somebody, get mad at me."

"For what?" he asked simply.

I had no answer.

"I'll make a deal with you, Okazaki: when I think you've messed up, then I'll get mad at you. Otherwise…" he gave my shoulder a couple of pats, "…trust me to get mad at the right people. Deal?" He dropped his hand from my shoulder to hold it out toward me.

I chuckled in spite of myself. "Deal," I said as I grabbed his hand and pumped it a couple of times.

He grabbed his bag and headed for the door, but stopped himself just before getting his shoes on. "Hey, Okazaki…"

"Yeah?"

"You ever ask her what she thinks of you? Just straight out asking her 'What do you think of me?'"

I felt the blood drain out of my face. "W-Well, no. I couldn't do that to her."

He looked down to slip his shoes on. "Maybe you should; you might be surprised." Finishing with his shoes, he fixed his gaze on me. "She might be too, now that I think about it. See you later, Okazaki." And with that he left the house.

I found myself lost in thought as the door slowly closed behind him…


	14. Abandoned

**Chapter Fourteen: Abandoned**

I was a mess the next morning. I had absolutely no motivation to eat breakfast, let alone work out with Yohei. I'd heard that girls were more emotional than boys, but I was starting to wonder if that was true as I made my way down the stairs to try to dig up something to eat. I blinked as I saw Mei standing in front of the stove, but when my vision cleared she had disappeared. "Great, now I'm hallucinating…"

I grabbed a bowl and dumped some cereal and milk in it and stood in the kitchen to eat it. Normally I'd sit at the kotatsu or the table against the wall, but I still didn't trust my legs to get me down safely. So, I stood in a quiet empty house, eating a bowl of cereal.

I missed Mei.

* * *

The streets were quiet as I walked to the school to meet up with Yohei. Actually, the streets were the same as always; it was Mei's absence that was different. Even though I was grateful for her confidence and her energy, I never realized how much she had…enriched my life. How much she meant to me.

"Tomoya!" I muttered an R-rated word as I heard Kyou call out. "Wait up!"

I would have picked up the pace to at least try to get away, but my cramping legs wouldn't let me, and she and her sister were on me in no time. "'Morning Fujibayashi, 'morning Kyou."

"Oooo…" The older twin cooed, "…he said 'good morning' to you first, Ryou. I wonder what that means?"

"Whatever you're thinking, it's not that," I grunted as we made our way up the hill to the school. My legs really hurt; the stretch was going to feel nice after this.

"You don't even know what I'm thinking," argued Kyou.

"I don't have to," I retorted. "I just have to know you well enough."

I was rewarded by Fujibayashi's giggle. "I think he got you there, Onee-chan."

"He only thinks he knows what I'm thinking," Kyou said, then fell silent. I looked over to the sight of mild confusion on her face, and I realized she was trying to replay what she had just said. I tried to keep myself from smirking.

I had to do it: "So you think I think I know what you're thinking?"

"AAAUGH! Stop that!" Kyou yelled, grabbing at her head. "That doesn't make any sense!"

"It makes sense to me," Fujibayashi said in a playful tone. "All he was saying was that he thinks-"

"Please, no!" Kyou cried out while messing up her hair even more. "It's all gibberish to me!"

Fujibayashi moved to walk closer beside me. "Don't worry, Okazaki-kun; I understand you."

I smiled as I decided to play along. "Thanks, Fujibayashi. It's nice to feel understood."

Kyou managed to be quiet…at least until we reached the soccer field.

* * *

When we arrived I saw that the usual gang was there: The Furukawas, the student body president, and the random people whose names I still didn't know. I looked around for Mei, but she was nowhere to be seen.

"She's back at the dorm," Yohei explained as we went through our warm-up routine. "She's helping Misae with cleaning and 'crowd control'."

"'Crowd control'?" I echoed.

He shrugged. "That's what Mei called it, and Misae seemed to like it." He gestured at me. "You okay, Okazaki? You seem a little out of it."

I opened my mouth, but hesitated. What would he think if…? "Yohei…? Would you kill me if I told you that I miss her already?"

He shook his head, which looked funny considering he was in the middle of a side stretch. "More like I'd be relieved." He straightened and shook out his arms. "You remember what I said when we were beating the piss out of each other after our fight with the soccer club?"

I remembered the fight, sure but... "Could you just tell me so we don't have to wait for me to remember?"

"I said that I didn't mind her having a boyfriend if it was you."

I paused in my movements. That's right; he had said something like that hadn't he?

"So it doesn't surprise me that you miss her; she's a neat kid."

I let his words sink in as we continued to stretch.

* * *

I was surprised that my legs let me run. I knew that the stretching helped, but it was still surprising to find myself running as well as I was.

"You're running pretty well for a crampy old man," Yohei said with a smirk.

"Yeah, you must be pretty weak if I can keep up with you like this," I replied with a smirk of my own.

"You think so?" he said, and rapidly started to outpace me.

"Crap! Okay! Okay! I give!"

He laughed as he slowed his pace to match mine. I noticed that his laugh wasn't like his nasally high-pitched laugh; it sounded…freer? More…genuine? "Sorry, Okazaki. I had to do it."

"Forget it; I had it coming," I chuckled.

I wasn't able to do all fifty push-ups, but I did as many as I could by the time Yohei finished and turned over to do the sit-ups with him.

I did the first sit-up and threw up my breakfast; apparently my stomach muscles still weren't quite ready. Fortunately, we did the push-ups and sit-ups at the halfway point so no one was able to see my situation.

"Gross," he muttered as he knelt next to me as I lay on my side. "Just relax; I'll go get a towel and some water for you."

All I could do was nod weakly.

He was out and back before I knew it. "Here," he said, holding out a water bottle. "Can you do it yourself or, um…do you need my help?"

I reached out and took the bottle, uncapped it, and took a few sips to see how it would affect my stomach. I guessed that it was due to being warm water, but my stomach muscles started to relax. I watched numbly as he cleaned up my mess. "Don't worry," he said with a smile. "I won't tell anyone if you won't."

My stomach only permitted a light chuckle from me, but that was enough to broaden my friend's smile. "I can wait for you if you want or go do another lap and check on you when I get back. Your choice."

"We'll keep an eye on him," I heard a voice say. Oh, no…not now…

Yohei saw my expression and nodded slightly before standing. "If I leave him with you, you're not going to pick on him, are you?"

"Don't worry," Kyou said. "I only bully him when he's well. I have standards, after all." Somehow I could imagine her flipping her hair with that statement.

"Besides, I'll be here too," an unfamiliar voice added.

"What are you doing here?" I heard Kyou protest. "Ryou and I can take care of this!"

"Onee-chan…" At least Fujibayashi was with her; one good thing.

"As student body president, the well-being of the students is my responsibility." Ah, that explained the unfamiliar voice.

"I don't care which of you watches him," I heard Yohei say in a stern voice. "But I won't put up with any fighting around him. He's already stressed right now, and doesn't need you fighting to make it worse."

I heard two voices mumble apologies before Yohei knelt next to me again. "It's your lucky day, Okazaki. You'll have three cute girls keeping an eye on you. I'd be jealous, but..."

"Huh?" I croaked.

He gently patted my shoulder a couple of times. "Never mind; just relax." He then left me in the care of a violent woman, another who didn't know how to assert herself, and yet another who I didn't even know, and I wondered if I was going to be okay.


	15. The Longest Journey

**Chapter Fifteen: The Longest Journey**

It was several minutes before I was able to get back to my feet, and even then I needed Kyou's and the student body president's help to get back to 'camp'.

On the way back, the president told me her name again. "Sakagami. Sakagami Tomoyo." She then looked over at Kyou. "If he's too heavy for you, I can handle him myself."

"Right back at you," I heard Kyou counter.

Fujibayashi walked out ahead of us and addressed the two girls: "Are either of you thinking of what's best for Okazaki-kun?"

More mumbled apologies followed.

I hung between the two girls, frustrated. My legs worked fine, but my stomach muscles were so sore that I didn't dare use try to use them to support myself. I hated being so weak.

"If you're worried about us…" Kyou offered, "…we won't tell anyone."

"My lips are sealed, at least," Sakagami said.

"Thanks…" I gasped. "I really appreciate it."

"Course, when you get better I'm going to tease you mercilessly about this," Kyou added.

I smiled as I felt Sakagami's glare directed toward Kyou.

Finally, we reached the 'camp', and the girls helped me over to a chair and carefully placed me in it. I really hated being so weak. Sanae came over to me with an envelope of some kind and tore it before placing it on my stomach. "This should help a little," she said. She wasn't wrong; my stomach immediately started to feel a lot better as the pad started to heat up.

I must have dozed off because I woke to Yohei gently shaking my shoulder. "Okazaki? You want a tea?"

I looked to the side to see him holding out a can and accepted it gratefully. "Did I fall asleep?"

He gave me a huge grin. "You sure did. Must've needed it, too; you slept a long time."

It made sense. I hadn't slept well the night prior and my body was still trying to heal and I had tried to work out. It was a wonder I wasn't in a coma instead. "Thanks, Yohei." I nursed my tea as he sat on the ground next to my chair. "Listen…um, how was Mei last night?"

He looked away, and I followed his gaze to see Kyou and Sakagami arguing about something. "She's fine, considering…" he answered somewhat evasively.

"Considering what?"

"No way. That's not mine to tell."

I let my irritation show on my face. "I think I've been out of the loop long enough."

He raised his hands in defeat. "Sorry, Okazaki. It's just that it's not my story to tell."

"And she'll tell it when she's good and ready."

"Yup."

I sighed. "Well, she better get 'good and ready' pretty soon 'cause, honestly, I'm starting to run out of patience."

"She's fourteen, Okazaki." He turned toward me. "Don't you remember what it was like?"

I scoffed this time. "Yeah. I wasn't a girl, though, but I get your point. Is she dealing with stuff that she's uncomfortable with?"

"Obviously."

Whether it was because of being tired, being in pain, or both, my temper was starting to flare. "Look, I'm just trying to make sure I understand. Smart-assery isn't going to help me or her right now."

"Sorry, sorry." He lifted his hands in defeat again, and the expression on his face told me that his words were genuine. "I can tell you that what she's dealing with scares her a lot."

My temper deflated rapidly at that. "And I just need to wait until she's ready to talk about it." I sighed again, more heavily this time. "Fine. If me waiting will help her in the long run, then fine."

* * *

I finally recovered enough to hobble home, but the twins and Sakagami insisted on coming with me. "Just in case," the student body president had explained.

I protested until Kyou gently poked me in the stomach; that took the fight out of me. At least I wouldn't need anyone to carry me this time.

As we walked Sakagami asked about Yohei's situation. "So Sunohara's practicing to become a professional soccer player, and you and his sister are helping him out?"

"Yeah. I helped him come up with the workout routine, and I've been filling out the forms from the teams."

"That's amazing," Sakagami said with a look of admiration. "You're working on catching up on your studies too, right?"

"You heard about that? Yeah, but I'll admit that I haven't done that as much since I started helping Yohei."

"It's okay," she said. "You're helping someone, and that's a good thing." She brushed her hair over her ear. "Maybe I could take over the workouts so you could focus on the paperwork."

"And I'll help with the paperwork!" Kyou chimed in.

"Onee-chan…"

"Thanks Kyou, but I'm not sure how you could help. I mean, I have all the information I need; it's just matter of copying it into the form." Besides, the last thing I wanted was Lady Violence in my home.

"Well, I could fill out another form. We could finish twice as many in the same amount of time!"

"That sounds good," I admitted, "but no. I'd like to do them myself so I know which ones have been done." I shrugged with an awkward smile. "It's just how I am, I guess."

"I understand," Sakagami interjected. "I don't mind delegating, but some things I just need to do myself so I can keep track of them better."

As we approached my house I was surprised to see the Sunohara siblings out front. Considering how slowly I had been moving, however, I wasn't too surprised that he had beaten me there. "Done already?"

"Yup!" He briefly glanced over at his sister. "We wanted to check up on you to make sure you were okay."

"He's been with me, so he's okay." Kyou said.

"I took good care of him," Sakagami added.

Fujibayashi managed to stop them from escalating their 'conversation' and I took the chance to examine Mei. For the most part she looked the same as always, except her eyes were downturned and she looked like she was lost in thought. What struck me, though, was that she was still wearing the koala-shaped hair holders that I had bought her. Otherwise, it was as though I didn't exist to her.

I saw the twins and Sakagami off, and then opened the door to my home, with Yohei and Mei following.


	16. Hospice

**Chapter Sixteen: Hospice**

The minute the door closed Yohei insisted that I get into bed and rest. "Mei and I'll take care of things, here," he had said.

With his help I made it upstairs and into my room. "This is really embarrassing," I complained.

"I told you not to push yourself," he countered. "Just rest and let your body do what it needs to, and you'll be up and running in no time. Running with me, that is." He glanced back at my open bedroom door. "A lot of us have been worried about you. I mean, you've been working out with me and dealing with the paperwork? That's like having two jobs!"

"It's not a big deal," I said.

"Exercise like we've been doing is physically demanding, Okazaki! And it's got to be tiring filling out form after form after form."

He had a point; I did feel like I was burning my candle at both ends. "Yeah, it's tiring. But I chose to do it, so I have to follow though."

"But you don't have to work out with me," he countered. "Think of it this way; you're no good to me if you burn yourself out doing things you don't need to." He rested a hand on my shoulder. "For now, just rest and let your friends take care of you."

"Friends…?"

He nodded. "Yeah, me and Kyou and Ryou and the student council president…" he smiled. "I think you've even impressed Nagisa's mom and dad. I'd better watch out or he might give her to you!" he finished with a chuckle.

"Um…" We turned to find Mei at the door, holding a tray.

"Come in." Yohei waved her over before turning back to me. "Mei made something that should help your muscles heal up faster."

"Protein, I take it?" I asked with a smile.

"And lots of it," he confirmed, moving out of the way as his sister carefully set the tray next to my bed. On it was a bowl of stew with a lot of meat, a bowl of rice, a side of steamed vegetables, and a mug of hot tea.

"Wow…" I was more than impressed. "I don't know how I'm going to eat all this, but…" I looked up at Mei. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," she squeaked before turning and fleeing my room.

Yohei sighed as he and I watched her leave. "Guess she's not ready yet."

"To talk to me?"

He turned back to me. "Yeah. She really wanted to come and make sure you were okay; that's why we were here when you got home." He shrugged. "I figured you'd be fine with the girls, but when I got home and told Mei what happened this morning, she told me to bring her here."

I breathed a sigh of relief. "I'm just glad she doesn't hate me." I felt Yohei staring at me, and I looked over to find him with an amused look on his face. "What?" I asked.

He shook his head, grin still in place. "You are such an idiot."

I'd been hearing that from him a lot lately.

* * *

Somehow, I managed to eat the whole meal. My stomach felt full, but satisfied. I had actually been concerned that my stomach would hurt from having so much food in there, but it felt fine.

It was still pretty early in the evening, so Yohei asked if I had any playing cards. After I told him where they were he went and dug them out and we started playing different card games.

Mei would come in every once in a while to give me some more tea or to ask her brother a question, but she never said anything to me. I felt kinda lonely, even with Yohei there.

"You look like you lost your best friend," he commented. "I know that's not true since I'm right here, but still…" he added with an impish smile.

"I'm fine," I said. "Just thinking."

His smile changed to a smirk. "Just give her time. I think she wants to talk to you, but she's too embarrassed."

Mei came in, refilled my mug and left the room again.

"Why would she be-"

She suddenly entered the room again, empty-handed, sat down next to her brother, and stared at the cards in our hands.

"You wanna play?" Yohei asked her.

She simply nodded.

"Can we finish our game, first?"

Another nod.

After Yohei trounced me again he collected the cards and began shuffling them. "So whaddya want to play?" he asked his sister.

I watched as she drew her head into her shoulders. She reminded me of a turtle trying to hide in its shell. I almost said something but changed my mind at the last second; I didn't want to make her run away again.

"How about something simple like 'Go Fish'?"

She blinked, angled her head, then nodded.

He smiled and dealt the cards. I was lucky and started off with a pair, which I put down.

"Let's see…I dealt, so…Tomoya, you're first."

I don't know why I didn't see it coming, but this meant that I would be asking for cards from Mei. I swallowed hard. "Do you have a five?"

I was oddly relieved when she answered quietly: "Go fish."

I drew a card from the pile, which didn't match anything I had. I then watched as she asked her brother for a card and had to draw a card from the pile as well. At least to anyone not in the know this looked like an ordinary game of cards. I, however, felt like I was walking through a minefield every time I asked Mei for a card. Not knowing her problem was really putting me on edge.

Finally the card game ended, with Yohei winning of course, and the Sunoharas gathered what few things they had brought and got ready to leave. I was glad that my stomach muscles didn't hurt as much anymore, so I was able to see them off at the door.

"See you tomorrow, Okazaki," Yohei said as he opened the door, and then stopped himself. "Oh, that's right; Nagisa's mom said that she'd be stopping by tomorrow to help you with breakfast. She was pretty worried about you."

"All right," I replied. "I'll consider myself warned." Considering that Sanae was a mother, I could probably expect some fussing.

"Okazaki-san…" Mei looked up at me with worried eyes.

"Yes?" I found myself anxious as to what she would say.

"G-Good night!" And with that she rushed out the door ahead of her brother.

Yohei turned to me once more, this time with a look of wonder. "I really didn't expect her to say anything to you tonight. Well, other than 'go fish'." He clicked his tongue. "Well, good-night Okazaki."

"'Night."

As the door shut I thought about Yohei's words. Maybe Mei would finally be ready to talk to me so I could help her. That talk couldn't come soon enough.


	17. Breakfast with Sanae

**Chapter Seventeen: Breakfast With Sanae**

I awoke to the sound of knocking at the front door. Since Dad had left to visit his mom I had left my bedroom door open so I could hear if someone knocked.

As I got out of bed I noticed that my stomach muscles felt a lot better than they did yesterday. Maybe it was Mei's cooking, maybe it was the rest…or maybe it was from being able to relax with a friend. I hadn't done that in what seemed like a long time.

"Just a minute, please," I called as I reached the bottom of the stairs. I figured it was Nagisa's mom, but I didn't want to be wrong and end up embarrassing myself. "Good morning," I greeted as I opened the door.

Sure enough, on the other side was Sanae. "Good morning, Okazaki-kun." She presented a grocery bag. "Are you hungry?"

A well-timed growl from my stomach gave her an answer, causing her to giggle. "Sorry about that, ma'am."

"Don't worry about it," she replied soothingly. "You're a young man, and young men need lots of nutrients." She gestured to the inside of my home. "May I come in?"

"Huh? Oh! Yes, please!" I stepped aside and wrestled with my bed-head as she entered. "Sorry, I'm not quite awake yet."

She flashed me what I could only describe as a motherly smile as she made her way to the kitchen area. "Oh, my! This is quite clean!" she observed as she placed her bag on the counter. "You keep a good house, Okazaki-kun."

"Actually ma'am, I think that's due to Mei's work," I replied. "I'm…not very good at cleaning."

"Well! If you're going to be moving out on your own, you're going to need to know how to clean." I could hear a gentle scolding tone and smiled in spite of myself. "Otherwise you could end up sick often!"

"Yes, ma'am." I hoped that I didn't sound patronizing to her.

"Go sit at the table while I make breakfast," she ordered. "This will only take a few minutes."

I did what I was told, and it wasn't long before a delicious smell came from the kitchen. My stomach growled again and I put my hand over it, glad that it didn't hurt anymore. I was certain that I had pulled a muscle with that sit-up, so I was relieved that it seemed to be healing. Not that I was eager to get back to sit-ups any time soon, but still…

"Here you go!" Sanae chirped as she set breakfast before me. Fish, rice, egg… "Eat up!"

I smiled and put my hands together. "Thanks for the food." I picked up my chopsticks and dug in.

I had taken several bites before I realized… "Aren't you going to eat, ma'am?"

She shook her head, smile still in place. "I ate before coming here."

"Oh."

I ate quietly for the next few minutes as Nagisa's mom wandered around the house, finding stuff to clean. "Mei-chan was quite thorough; I can't find anything that needs cleaning."

My chopsticks paused on their way to my mouth.

She apparently noticed, because the next thing I knew she was sitting across from me again. "What are you thinking about?"

I put my chopsticks down. "To be honest, I miss Mei."

Her smile broadened, if that were possible. "Why is that?"

"She's fun." I let my thoughts flow, hoping that voicing them would help me to understand them better. "She has a lot of energy, something I haven't had for a long time."

"All young people have a lot of energy," she remarked. "Perhaps you're seeing that?"

I shook my head. "No…I think I know what you mean, but I don't think it's that. It's like you start talking to her and you feel more…alive? Does that make sense?"

"She is unique, that's for certain." I couldn't help but notice a twinkle in her eye.

"Yeah. I mean…I think she's the reason why I got so motivated to get up on time for school." She gave me a puzzled look so I explained: "After my shoulder was injured right before high school started I basically lost all my willpower. I gave up on life, really." I allowed my thoughts to travel to the past. "Then Koumura-sensei put me with Sunohara – to keep us out of trouble – and the two of us have been messing around for the last two years." I shook my head to re-center my thoughts. "But after Mei visited back in April to check on her brother…I dunno…" I rubbed the back of my neck. "I guess she…motivated me somehow." I smiled at the memories of my time with her. "It's like she reminded me of who I was supposed to be."

"She saved you."

I thought about that for a moment. "Yeah, I think you're right. I mean, I probably still won't amount to much since I'm so far behind, but I've been studying what I've missed while helping Yohei become a pro soccer player."

Her eyebrows jumped. "So you're the reason he's been working so hard?"

I shook my head. "No, ma'am; that would be Mei again. I hadn't really thought about it, but then she told me that he had been an awesome soccer player in middle school, and she thought he could turn pro." I shrugged. "I kinda got dragged into it just like in April, but…I'm glad he's doing so well." I heard a sigh from the other side of the table and looked up to see a dreamy expression on Sanae's face. Suddenly, I felt a little awkward. "What? Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Mei-chan has told me what you're been doing for her brother." Her smile intensified, and I thought I was going to go blind because of it. "I think it's wonderful how you're willing to jump in and do what needs to be done."

"It's not…I'm not…"

She giggled softly. "I'm sorry, Okazaki-kun; I don't mean to make you uncomfortable."

"Too late," I dared to say as my face heated up.

"Yes, I can see that," she said teasingly, causing my face to heat up even more.

I shifted in my seat. "Mei told me that I'd have to get used to people saying nice things about me."

"She's right," Sanae said. Then, leaning forward she asked, "By the way…how do you feel about Mei?"

That was the last question I would have expected.


	18. Consultation

**Chapter Eighteen: Consultation**

Her question caught me by surprise, I guess because it was so direct. "W-Well…I mean, I've already told you about how she motivated me, right?"

"Mmm-hmm."

"And she's been a big help with the paperwork, getting the stuff that I needed to fill it out." I paused to think some more. "And she's the whole reason we're on this crazy adventure, trying to get Yohei into pro soccer."

"This is interesting, but…" She paused and looked me square in the eye. "You've told me what she's done and what you think of her. But I asked how you feel about her."

"Huh?" I quickly played back what I had just said to her and realized that I hadn't answered her question. "Well, I miss her."

"Why?"

I had to think about that one. Obviously I missed her because she wasn't there, but what was about her that I missed? No, that would've been going back to what I think.

Only one thing came to mind: "I guess it's because she's special to me."

"You guess?" she asked with a teasing tone.

"Ma'am, I haven't been taught to think this way. I understand that you're asking about feelings, but I still need to use my brain to put it into words. I guess I've learned to act on feelings instead of talking about them."

"So…" She leaned forward, folding her hands and resting her chin on them. "…what would you do to act on your feelings toward her?"

I fidgeted; this was really uncomfortable. "I…I want her to hold my arm like she did back in April. I liked how that felt."

"Okazaki-kun." Sanae's voice was more serious than I'd ever heard it before. "What would you do to act on your feelings toward her?" she repeated.

I closed my eyes and pictured Mei, school uniform and twintails and all, and…I guess my heart started talking. "I want to be by her side. I want to feel her arms around me like that one time."

"Tell me about that time."

"I was working on a form, and when I started to massage some tension out of my wrist she held me and let me rest my head against her. I felt so bad about that partly because it felt so comforting."

"Okay."

I felt myself smile. "I want to work at a reputable job and come home to her cooking and give her a hug when I walk through the door. I want to see her smile and I want to hear her laugh. I want to hold on to her like she's…like she's a priceless treasure."

"That sounds wonderful."

"I want to go on trips with her and see all kinds of things with her…to…to…"

"To share?"

"…to share all kinds of experiences with her."

"Why do you want to do all these things with her?"

"I…I guess…"

"You sound too sure to be guessing. Do you love her?"

My eyes opened…and widened. "I think you're right. I never really thought of that." I snorted at my own blindness. "I was never really interested in dating since I'd given up, but…" My look of wonder must have been interesting to see.

"How would you feel if you saw her with another boy?"

I imagined that scenario and my hands started to hurt.

"Your clenched fists tell me all I need to know." Sanae looked at me with a soft smile. "For what it's worth, I think you would be good for her, Okazaki-kun."

My heart sank as I realized that I had just spilled my guts. "Please don't tell her any of this. She's already hurting about something, and I don't want to make things worse."

I watched, astonished, as she dabbed at her eyes with her handkerchief. "Oh, now look what you've done; you've made a grown woman cry." Before I could reply she said, "You would be very good for her. You are a very nice young man."

"I-I'm not-"

"Please stop saying things like that," she said with a firm tone. "You may not understand this, but you insult those who think highly of you when you do that. It's good and very Japanese to be humble, but humility can be carried too far."

I hung my head. "Yes, ma'am."

"So, Okazaki-kun…do you love Mei?"

It was hard to answer since I didn't have much in the way of life experiences, but… "As far as I can tell…" I forced myself to meet her gaze. "Yeah. Yeah, I do."

She gave me what looked like another motherly smile. "I'm very proud of you. It takes a lot of courage to admit that. Love is a strength, but admitting it also reveals a vulnerability. After all, if we love someone and that person rejects us, it hurts."

I reflexively imagined Mei rejecting me and found my hand on my chest. "Yeah." My voice was somewhat strained. "I think I know what you mean."

"Well," she said as she slid around the table. "If you wish to confess to her, then I will help you in any way I can."

"Thank you, ma'am."

From her seat next to mine she reached out and put a hand on my shoulder before drawing me into an embrace. It felt awkward at first, but then I thought: Is this what a mother's hug feels like? Is this what I've missed out on for the last seventeen, almost eighteen, years? With those questions at the forefront of my thoughts, I reached out and put my arms around her, returning her hug.

"Thanks again for the breakfast," I said for the umpteenth time as Sanae put her shoes on.

"It was my pleasure, Okazaki-kun," she replied. "You were a wonderful host."

"I-I wasn't-" I started to say reflexively before catching myself. "Thank you. I guess I will have to get used to it, huh?"

"We all believe in you," she replied. "Me, my husband, Nagisa, the Fujibayashi girls, Yohei-kun…and Mei-chan."

"You really think she does?"

She simply smiled. "Have you ever asked her what she thinks of you?"

I chuckled. "Yohei asked me the same question. No, I haven't…but maybe I should."

"We'll be waiting," Sanae said as she stepped out the door to my home. "She'll be waiting."

I pondered those words as I watched her back get smaller and smaller in the distance.


	19. Reunion

**Chapter Nineteen: Reunion**

I felt well enough to go out the next day. I took a couple of forms with me as I headed to the school. As far as I knew Yohei would still be using the soccer field there, but I figured that if I didn't find him there I'd go check the park we'd used before.

As I turned the corner to the soccer field I saw that the soccer club was there, practicing. "Guess I'll head to the park, then…"

I was about to turn back when I noticed something interesting: one of the club members appeared to have yellow hair. I didn't expect to remember too well but I thought back to when Mei and I visited the club to ask them to let Yohei rejoin. I couldn't remember seeing any yellow-haired members, so I decided to check it out. As I got closer I realized… "The hell…?"

Yohei was out practicing with the club. "The hell?!" When did that happen? "Yohei?!"

Sure enough, it was him. He turned and saw me, tapped the shoulder of the nearest player and said something to him, then started jogging toward me.

"Yo!" he greeted as he got closer.

I looked from Yohei to the club and back. "What happened?"

He smiled broadly. "I was out early practicing my moves. I meant to be done and rake the field before they got here, but I lost track of the time." He shrugged. "I guess they liked what they saw, 'cause they invited me to practice with them."

I narrowed my eyes. "Have you been getting along with them okay?"

He rolled his eyes at me with an exasperated sigh. "Yes Dad, I've been a good boy." His expression then turned more serious. "It started off rough, but once I got to know the others it got better."

That caught my interest. "So how long have you been practicing with them?"

He gave a quick glance at his wrist. "About an hour-and-a-half." He gave me a sly grin. "You were worried about me getting in a fight, weren't you?"

I gave him my best 'well, duh' look. "Of course. I mean, weren't we fighting these guys a couple of months ago?"

"Yeah, about that…" he rubbed the back of his neck. "I guess we kinda earned their respect, just the two of us taking them all on." I heard someone yell Yohei's name and he looked back over his shoulder at them. "Yeah, hold on, I'll be right there!" He turned back to me. "Listen, I gotta get back to practice, but the gang's over on the other side of the field."

"Okay. Have fun out there." I started around the field as Yohei headed back out to rejoin the club members.

It didn't take me long to find the Furukawas; Nagisa had her usual pom-poms, Sanae had her usual smile, and Akio had his usual grill. Nearby were the twins, with Kyou in another verbal fight with Sakagami, probably about something stupid.

Then I saw a familiar set of twintails and my heart skipped a beat.

Mei sat on the other side of the trio watching her brother play. Either she didn't see me approaching or she was ignoring me, but in any case: there she was.

" _So, Okazaki-kun…do you love Mei?"_

Before I realized it I'd glanced over at Sanae, who was looking at me with a knowing smile.

I made my way over to Mei and stopped at what I hoped was a respectful distance. "May I sit here?"

Her head whipped around and she looked up at me with wide eyes. "Okazaki-san…"

"Hi…" I found myself saying somewhat lamely. "M-May I sit with you?"

"S-Sure."

I sat down next to her while trying to give her space. "How have you been?"

"Okay."

"Good."

We quietly watched the club practice for several minutes.

I was surprised when Mei broke the silence: "Okazaki-san?"

"Yeah?"

I heard her take a deep breath. "C-Could we talk after Onii-chan's practice?"

Funny; I was about to ask the same thing. "Sure. I'd like that."

We sat together quietly for the rest of practice.

* * *

As the others left for wherever they were going Mei and I stood and shyly turned to face each other, with Nagisa's parents nearby at our request. They were there to help with any possible misunderstandings; Mei and I really wanted this to go well. Sanae made it very clear, however, that she would 'step in' if she felt it was necessary. "As much as possible, I would like you two to work things out," she had explained. "But, as an adult, I cannot stand by and do nothing if it would help for me to intervene." Mei and I agreed, even if we didn't completely understand what she meant.

"So…what did you want to talk about?" I asked.

She kept her gaze downward as she tapped the ground with her toe. "I…I-I miss you."

I felt myself smile. "Thanks. I miss you, too."

We stood quietly, staring at the ground between us for what seemed like an eternity.

"Okazaki-san…?

I watched as she shifted her weight from foot to foot, causing her twintails to sway. "Yeah, Mei?

She stopped fidgeting and closed her eyes, taking a deep breath.

To my complete surprise, she reached up to one of her twintails and unclipped the koalas, setting her hair free. She did the same to the other side before running her fingers through her hair, freeing it to cascade around her face and shoulders. She then looked up at me. "Okazaki-san…" her voice was barely above a whisper. "You said my hair made me look 'girly'…do I look like a woman now?"

"Huh?" Where did that come from? "I'm sorry, I really don't understand."

She quickly closed the distance between us, took one of my hands, and put it against her face. "Can you think of me as a woman now, Tomoya?"

My breath caught in my throat. "Mei, I-"

She quickly pressed against me, wrapping her arms around me, which pushed the hand that had been on her face into her length of purple.

My eyes widened as my heart skipped a beat. Apparently I had a thing for long hair; I never knew that.

I felt her look up at me and I looked down to find myself gazing directly into her eyes. It took me another moment to realize that I saw tears in them. "Tomoya…Tomoya…"

Why was she just saying my name over and over again?

She must have heard my unspoken question. "…every time I hear your name I think of you and all the wonderful things you've done for Onii-chan and others without complaining or…or…expecting any kind of reward, and…"

I stared in awe as her tears started to overflow. Somewhere along the way my hand had started to caress the back of her head.

"…it's too much! It's too much, Tomoya, and my heart hurts!"

"I…I don't know what to say…Mei."

She gently pushed me away to beat against my chest with her fists. "Tomoya, please! Am I a woman to you?!"

I quickly grabbed her hands and stared at them to give myself time to think.

I thought back to the first time I met her. At the time I thought she was noisy, nosey, and pesky…But what about now? I looked at her face; she still had the 'roundness' of youth, of course, but she looked more…mature, somehow, even after only a couple of months. In spite of the 'kink' from having it tied up her hair framed her face perfectly, falling down her shoulders and back. And her eyes…I gasped.

I was never very good at reading expressions, but I could swear she looked…desperate? Like she had some kind of longing that she hadn't been able to satisfy. It was that look that caused me to gasp.

I studied her expression for a long time before finally releasing a sigh. "Mei, I…I really don't know how to answer your question." She opened her mouth, but I wasn't finished. "Wait. What I can say is that I see a beautiful…I see beauty…in you…" I ran my free hand through my hair as I gave her a gentle squeeze with the other. "Damn. Mei, you asked if I think of you as a woman. I guess my answer would have to be 'I don't know'."

She looked down, breaking our gaze. "I see…"

"Ah! Wait!" I put a hand under her chin to tilt her face back up with a finger. "But…but…" my nerves were on fire, "I-I do know that you are very special to me, and so…well…I would like to find out."

My heart leaped as the light returned to her eyes. "D-does that mean…" she looked at me hopefully.

I swallowed a lump before asking: "Mei-chan: M-May I date you?"


	20. The New Couple

**Chapter Twenty: The New Couple**

"Oh, I'm so happy for you!" Sanae exclaimed as Mei and I walked up to her, hand-in-hand. "I will admit that I was afraid that I would have to get involved."

I smiled awkwardly. Having a girlfriend was going to take some getting used to. "Do you think our age difference will cause any problems?" I asked.

"Little late for that, don't you think?" quipped Akio.

"Dad!" Nagisa protested. "They love each other and Okazaki-san wants to make sure he does right by Mei-chan. Isn't that right?"

Tongue-tied, all I could do was nod.

"Now all you have to do is tell her to call you 'Tomoya' and everything will be perfect!" Nagisa seemed almost as excited as I was.

I looked over at Mei. "Well, you've called me by my first name a bunch of times anyway…"

"You don't understand, Okazaki-san; you have to ask her to call you by your first name. That makes it official!" Nagisa finished with a satisfied smile.

I glanced at Mei out of the corner of my eye; she was blushing madly. Still I thought Nagisa had a point, so I turned to my girlfriend. "Mei, when you're comfortable with it, I'd like you to call me 'Tomoya', okay?"

Apparently Mei had caught my 'tongue tie' bug and could only nod.

"As far as your age difference," Sanae started, "three-and-a half years can be a concern right now." Her smile then turned sly. "But consider that Mei will be the legal age to marry in two years."

"WHOA!" I started feeling lightheaded as Mei's face nearly burst into flame. "Let's take it one step at a time, here! W-W-We just got together officially!"

Sanae giggled; I figured that she was enjoying the situation. "I'm sorry, you two. How about this; in ten years that difference won't be so…different."

"Hey, that's right," I said, still trying to regain some dignity. "I'll be twenty-seven and she'll be twenty-four." I paused as it hit me: "That seems so far away, though."

"Then think three years down the road," suggested Akio. "Twenty and seventeen sound okay?"

I looked over to my girlfriend. "What do you think?"

She dipped her head, and then held up our clasped hands. "I'm still getting used to this."

"Yeah. Me too," I agreed as I gave her hand a gentle squeeze. "I like it, though."

"Me too."

* * *

In the end we got good advice from Nagisa's parents. As long as we didn't go 'too far' when it came to affection the Furukawas figured we should be okay, though I figured that by the time I got enough courage to actually try to kiss her, Mei would already be of marrying age.

As we walked back to my house Mei let go of my hand to take hold of my arm with both of hers. "Is this okay?"

I chuckled softly. "I think anything we've done before should be fine." I smiled down at her concerned expression. "I'll admit this is going to take some time to get used to, though."

"Yeah."

"Hey, you two lovebirds! You're making me sick!"

I put my free hand to my forehead. "Not now…please…"

Seconds later, the Fujibayashi twins walked on either side of us. "We were wondering when you were going to show up!" Kyou barked. "You're late to help us with the grocery shopping!"

"Onee-chan…I think they're busy."

"Don't take it too seriously, Ryou; they went on 'pretendates' the last time she was here, too."

I hated to admit it, but part of me enjoyed what I was about to say: "We're not on a date, but we're also not pretending."

Kyou's steps faltered. "Eh?"

I gestured to Mei, still holding my arm. "I'm her boyfriend. For real now."

Kyou came to a stop, bringing the rest of the group to a halt. "Ehhhh heh-heh…That's a good one, Tomoya. T-Tell me another one."

"Onee-chan…"

"It's not a joke, Kyou. We made it official about…" I looked to Mei. "Fifteen, twenty minutes ago?"

"Probably twenty," Mei confirmed. "Maybe we should mark the calendar."

I watched with some sympathy as Kyou's face went through a myriad of emotions. I figured she couldn't imagine me with any girl, let alone a treasure like Mei. "Y-You're serious…"

I turned to my girlfriend. "Would you mind explaining it? I don't think she'll believe it if I tell her."

The blush she showed us was adorable. "Um, sure." She cleared her throat. "Tomoya and I talked and realized that we like each other more than just friends."

I turned back to see Kyou's mouth hanging open before she managed to snap it shut. "W-Well, good! That's good, right?" she stammered.

"Onee-chan…"

"Actually, I was thinking that it wasn't just 'more than friends'," I said to Mei. "I mean, I do like you, but it feels different than the feelings I've had for friends."

"Okay."

"It's almost like I created a…a new…scale! Or something like that. Like you're in a completely different category now."

"I-I don't know, Tomoya," Mei said with a shy smile. "I just know that I like you."

"Yeah… sorry about that." I rubbed the back of my head. "I guess I'm overthinking things. Thanks."

"Mnn-mmnn…" She shook her head. "I like that about you."

I suddenly remember that we weren't alone. "Sorry Kyou, I got lost in a thought…huh?"

The elder Fujibayashi twin stood with her hands fisted and her head down, with her hair blocking our view of her eyes. She was chuckling, but something about it seemed…off. "Heh…heh-heh…b-beaten by a middle-schooler…"

"Onee-chan?"

Not daring to talk to Kyou directly I addressed her sister: "Fujibayashi, is she okay?"

Fujibayashi looked sadly at her sister. "No. She's hurting right now."

I briefly glanced at Mei before looking back to the twins. "Is there anything we can do to help?"

She shook her head as she put an arm around her sister's shoulders. "Just…you two go on ahead and have fun."

As we continued to my place Mei and I both found ourselves looking over our shoulders to see the twins holding each other in a tight embrace.


	21. A Better Time

**Chapter Twenty-One: A Better Time**

I scratched away at the paperwork as Mei carefully massaged my shoulders. It had been several days since Mei and I had gotten together and I was still feeling drained from the excitement.

"You've been working really hard, Tomoya," she remarked as she carefully worked on my right shoulder with both hands. "Taking care of me, filling out this paperwork…" She grunted as she pushed into a knot. "I'm so glad we can work on this together again."

I grunted in response to the massage as I filled out Yohei's medical history for what seemed like the thousandth time. I felt Mei move from working on my shoulders to my upper back, and I made a mental note to thank her for it later. All of the stress from the last few days had really caused my back muscles to tighten up, so I really appreciated her work.

After several minutes of writing I put the pen down to rub at my right wrist. I moved it and rotated it this way and that, trying to work out the stiffness that had set in. My eyes fell closed as I leaned back in the chair, and I felt her hands slide down my chest and squeeze me like she was hugging me. I let myself relax and felt the back of my head gently settle into her chest…and sighed as she kissed the top of my head. "Thanks, Mei."

"For what?"

"For a lot of things. For helping with the paperwork. For being there to kick Yohei's ass when it needed it." I took hold of her hand and gently kissed the back of it. "For accepting someone like me."

"M-My pleasure," she said, her voice sounding a little husky. "I'm glad you're okay with someone like me."

I chuckled lightly. "Okay? I think you're the best thing that's ever happened to me." I turned my chair around, giving her enough time to step away before drawing her into my lap and wrapping my arms around her. "I'm really glad we met."

"Me too," she said, this time in a trembling voice as she rested her head on mine as she hugged it. "I'm so happy I could faint."

I chuckled again. "Listen to us, sounding all mushy."

"You don't like it?"

"It's not that. I guess…it's new." I felt my face heat up. "I've been having a hard time keeping up on the forms 'cause I've been looking forward to learning more about you. I like your energy."

"Tomoya…" She pulled away and looked into my eyes. She glanced down a couple of times before leaning in slowly…

"We'd…I'd…better get back to the forms," I said as I gently nudged her from my lap. As I turned back to my desk I kicked myself at the lost expression on her face. "Your brother is counting on us, and we can't let him down."

"T-Tomoya…"

She sounded like she was going to cry, so I turned to face her again. "Listen, um…" I rubbed my face to try to clear some tension. "I, uh think it's too soon for us to go that far."

"How come?"

"Well…" How was I supposed to explain something that I didn't feel like I understood? "We're too young. No, that's not it..." This was really hard! "I don't think it's right for me to take something like that from you. I mean, what if this doesn't work out? Your first kiss should be special."

"But kissing you is special!" she protested.

That brought a smile to my face. "Thanks, that means a lot to me." A light went on in my head. "And that's why I think we should wait on something that means so much!" I leaned forward, resting my elbows on my knees and my chin on my hands. "Mei, the truth is that…well, I really would like to kiss you that way, but…I think I'd be doing it for the wrong reason if I did it now."

She understandably looked alarmed. "What do you mean?"

"I…don't think it would be that special because I don't know you that well yet. I mean, we know each other of course, but…I want to know you better before kissing you…that way. So I could really be able to appreciate who I'm kissing." I slumped in my seat and let my gaze fall to the floor. "I'm really sorry; I don't know how to explain this very well. I've never had to before."

I felt a gentle touch on my shoulder and looked up to see Mei smiling softly at me. "You want me to be extra-special to you before we kiss like that?"

I pondered her words before nodding slowly. "I think that's a good way to put it."

Tears glistened in her eyes as her cheeks pinked. "It's going to be hard waiting for that."

"Sorry, Mei..."

She shook her head. "It's okay. I don't understand completely, but I understand that you're doing this because I mean a lot to you, so I accept that."

I sat up more fully in the chair. "There are a lot of other things we can do…if you're okay with them, of course," I finished with an awkward chuckle.

"Like kisses on the cheeks?"

"Sure. And on the forehead or the hands."

"And holding hands?" she asked as she matched actions to words.

"Yeah." I was starting to feel a little lightheaded; her skin was so soft.

"And snuggling?" she asked as she moved closer.

"Absolutely." I smiled as I drew her into my lap again, and we quietly enjoyed each other's company.

I didn't get much more done on the forms that day.


	22. Mission Accomplished

**Chapter Twenty-Two: Mission Accomplished**

"Done!" I exclaimed as I held up the last page of the last form.

"Jeez Okazaki, you almost gave me a heart attack!" I tuned to find Yohei, who had been reading a manga while lying on the floor, sitting up and holding his chest as Mei sat nearby, giggling. "I mean, all of a sudden like that…"

"Sorry about that, Yohei," I said as I handed him the form. "But it seems like I've been doing this forever!"

He looked over the form. "I don't get any of this. But it's the last one?"

"Yeah," I replied, closing my eyes and stretching my arms over my head. "And I am glad to be done!"

I felt a soft touch on my outstretched arms and smiled as I turned to Mei standing before me. "We did it, Mei."

She shook her head. "No, you did it, Tomoya. I got the information, but you filled out all of those forms."

"All right! All right! It was a team effort, okay?!" Yohei said as he stood, waving his arms.

Mei and I looked at each other and exchanged smiles. "Okay, Onii-chan," she said.

He rubbed at the back of his head. "Listen, I uh…I wanna thank you for doing all this for me. Mei, thanks for believing in me. You too, Okazaki. I don't think you would have done all this if you didn't think I stood a chance." He was quiet for a minute, then stuck his hand out towards me. "Thanks, Okazaki."

I looked at his hand and thought about everything we had gone through to get to this point. We had a long way to go, sure, but…we'd still worked hard, all three of us.

I reached out and shook his hand. "Call me 'Tomoya' from now oi."

His face broke into a broad smile. "Sure…I'll do that."

"I think this calls for a party!" Mei suddenly piped up. "We could get the Furukawas, and the twins, and the student body president, and-"

"That's gonna be quite the party," Yohei interrupted as we released our handshake. "What do you think, Tomoya? Feel like a party?"

I chuckled. "I feel more like a train wreck, to be honest. But a party does sound good; we did do a lot here. Do you feel ready for the professional level?"

He thumped his chest. "You bet!"

I looked over at Mei. "And I think we're ready to deal with the responses from the teams."

Mei nodded emphatically. "You bet!" She was Yohei's sister for sure.

"Then let's party!" Yohei decided.

After mailing off the final form we set off for Furukawa Bakery.

* * *

"No can do," Akio declared as the three of us stood in the shop. "I'm busy that weekend."

"Dad…" Nagisa complained as she hugged Yohei's arm.

"Wait; we haven't even given you a date!" I protested.

"Doesn't matter," he said, looking at Yohei. "I'm all out of meat, anyway."

"We have plenty of meat," Sanae's voice interrupted, and we looked to see her at the entryway to their home. Uh-oh; her fists were on her hips. "Akio-san, are you giving Nagisa's boyfriend trouble again?"

"GGKK!" Akio almost swallowed his cigarette. "D-Don't call him that! I'll never give her to that brat!"

"Akio-san…"

I couldn't help it; I watched with a smile as Nagisa's dad grabbed at his head. "Fine! Fine! Just stop with the honorifics, please!"

Sanae shook her head with a small smile as she descended into the shop. "When would you like to have this celebration?" she asked. "And what are we celebrating? Has Yohei-kun been accepted to a team?"

In the presence of his former 'girlfriend' Yohei was, understandably, at a loss for words so I answered: "Not yet, ma'am. We just finished the last form and sent it off and Yohei's about as ready as he's going to be, so we'd like to celebrate what we've accomplished so far."

Sanae's smile brightened. "I think that's a wonderful idea! You three have worked so hard, so I think your hard work should be celebrated!" She clapped her hands together. "When did you want to do this?"

Yohei and I looked at each other, and he shrugged; I guess he was leaving it up to me. "I'm…not sure yet, ma'am. We'd like to have Kyou and Fujibayashi and Sakagami there too, if that's all right."

"I do not see a problem," Sanae replied. "Just give us a couple of days advance notice and it should be okay."

I bowed, and the siblings followed suit. "Thank you ma'am; this really means a lot to us." I then nudged Yohei in the side and whispered, "Say something, you idiot."

Yohei shot up ramrod straight. "Y-Yes! Th-Thank you merry vuch!"

I shook my head with a smile as Mei and I straightened, and I looked over to see her giving me a cute smile and a giggle.

"We'll go talk to the others and see what their schedules look like," I said as I took Mei's hand. "We'll be as quick as we can."

"Just keep in mind that summer vacation's only a couple more weeks," Akio noted. "You don't have a lot of time."

I nodded. "I understand, sir." Then my face fell as I realized; summer ended in about two weeks, which meant…I looked over at Mei, who looked back with a sad expression.

Mei would have to go home at the end of summer break.

* * *

"It is kind of a shock," I admitted as we made our way to the Fujibayashi home. I'd been there enough times from helping with grocery shopping that I could almost find my way with my eyes closed.

"We were kinda busy," Mei agreed. "Where did all the time go?"

"Well…" Yohei walked on Mei's other side, with his hands behind his head. "…workouts, paperwork, and a couple of romances."

"Hey, that's right." I looked over at him. "How did the two of you end up together, anyway? I figured that most of it happened while I was messing with the paperwork, but…"

"Well…" At first it looked like he was going to tell some dramatic story that I would have to call 'bull' on. Instead, he let his hands fall to his sides. "To tell the truth, it just kinda happened. You know how she and her parents would show up at my practices?"

"Yeah."

"Well, she was really supportive and stuff, bringing me water and towels, but I'll tell you," he said, wagging a finger at me. "It was what you asked her that got me noticing her. You remember asking her to 'lend us your beauty' or something like that?"

I nodded, smiling at the memory.

"I probably would have noticed anyway, but hearing you ask that really got me thinking about her. She has a pretty face and a nice figure, but…man, I'm not sure how to explain this…"

"Is she beautiful on the inside, too?"

He jabbed a finger in my direction. "That's it! She's…innocent, and I like that! Too many girls at school are so cynical, but Nagisa's…different."

"She seems optimistic, almost to a fault," I observed.

"No, not to a fault; she's perfect," he argued.

"Do you know what she likes about you?" Mei asked.

Yohei's face burst into flame. "Ah, well…" He was clearly uncomfortable with the question. "She's been pretty honest about that. She likes how I've been working so hard at becoming a pro. She says it makes her think of working hard to make the Theater Club a success."

"You inspire her," I said with a smirk.

"I guess," he conceded. "Listen, if you really want to know the details, ask her the next time you see her; she might tell you. I'm not really comfortable talking about myself like this."

I was impressed; I'd always had the impression that Yohei liked to brag about himself. Maybe Nagisa's presence helped him with his humility? In any case, I gave him a break: "All right Yohei, I'll ask her next time I see her, then I'll tease you with whatever she tells me."

"Tomoya!" Mei protested with a smile, while giving me a playful whack on the arm. "Stop picking on Onii-chan!"

"All right, all right…"

We continued to exchange light banter as we made our way to Kyou's and Fujibayashi's house.


	23. Party Time

**Chapter Twenty-Three: Party Time**

I expected a small party, with a few friends and a barbeque…what I didn't expect was a beach trip.

"Everyone ready?" Nagisa's dad stood before us in what I assumed was his swimming attire: sunglasses, a white T-shirt, black swim trunks with some kind of flowers printed on it, and brown sandals. He looked like a walking ad for the seaside. "Then let's go!"

I looked over at Yohei, who just smiled and shrugged. Nagisa, attached to his arm, wore some kind of loose-fitting shirt and shorts, and brown sandals like her dad. Yohei himself wore blue trunks and a white T-shirt, and had on regular socks and sneakers.

"Could we hurry it up? We've been 'let's go'-ing for the last ten minutes!" Kyou complained as she tugged on one of the straps to her shirt. It was purple, of course, and she had on blue jean shorts and purple sandals. Her sister was more conservative in a white shirt that covered more than Kyou's did, and she wore long blue pants and pink sandals.

Sakagami had decided to come along as well. "As student body president, the safety of the students is one of my concerns," she had said.

"You know, we're not the only students on vacation," Kyou had sniffed.

After a noticeable glance at me she had replied, "I can't take care of everyone at the same time, but if I can take care of a few, then I am satisfied."

Kyou just 'humphed' in reply, but let it go.

"I'm so excited," a voice to my left said, and I looked down and smiled at an anxious Mei. "I haven't been to the beach in soooooo long."

She looked ready for it; it looked like she had a light-blue swimsuit on under a white shirt with straps instead of sleeves, and a blue skirt that went just to the tops of her knees. She looked like a little doll.

"How long has it been?" I asked.

"Soooooo long!" she repeated as she gave my arm a squeeze. "I'm glad we're going together, Tomoya."

"Me too," I said as I reached over to pat her hand. "I haven't been there in a long time either, so I'm glad my first time back will be…well…" Crap; I hated feeling self-conscious, and I felt my face heat up as she giggled.

"It means a lot to me to hear you say that…well, almost say it at least." Her cheeks pinked as she gave my arm another squeeze. "Thank you."

"Hey, lovebirds! Hurry up!" Nagisa's dad was a good distance away already as he turned to yell at us. "We'll leave you behind!"

Mei and I smiled at each other before hurrying to catch up with the others.

* * *

"Woooooowwwww…." Yohei breathed as we took in the sight of the beach. "Awesome…"

"There sure are a lot of people here," Mei observed as a couple raced by, chasing a beach ball.

"Well, summer is almost over," Sakagami commented. "Students and their families are going to want one last shot at it before going back to school."

"Thank you, Miss Student Body President," Kyou quipped. "I think most of us know how to check a calendar." That started another verbal sparring match between the two of them. Odd as it may have seemed, I got the impression that Kyou and Sakagami actually liked each other; this was just their way of getting along.

I looked over to Nagisa's dad to ask where to set up, only to find him laying a blanket out under an already-unfolded beach umbrella. How he could work so fast I'd never know. So I looked over to my girlfriend. "What do you want to do first?"

Her face scrunched as she thought briefly; her expression was so cute. "I think we should check with Akio-san first. If he has something planned, we should be ready to help."

"That sounds good," I agreed. So we jogged over to him and asked.

"Nah, I'm good here," he said. "Thanks for asking. Go have fun, you two. I'll call you when I need something." He directed this last statement to me, so I nodded. Then I took Mei's hand and we sprinted across the sand toward the water as fast as we – well, as fast as Mei could.

"Hold up!" a voice called out. We turned to find the twins a short distance away. "We're not ready for the water yet."

"What do you mean?" I asked as I looked down…and realized I hadn't changed for swimming. "Oops."

"We'll go to the changing rooms," Kyou said as she reached for my girlfriend. "You just go find a rock somewhere or something."

Kyou's statement had me wondering if her attitude toward me (and guys in general) represented part of Japan's problems as I made my way to the men's changing rooms. I was wearing my trunks under my day clothes, but I still had just enough modesty to be uncomfortable undressing in front of others.

It wasn't long before I lay under the umbrella with my eyes closed, waiting for the girls to return. I figured they would take longer, being girls and all, so I wasn't too surprised that it was several minutes later before I heard Kyou's voice again. "You asleep already? Jeez, what a loser."

"I'm not asleep, I just-" I sat up as I opened my eyes and froze.

Kyou, Fujibayashi, and Sakagami all stood before me in their swimsuits…what there was of them, at least. Kyou wore a purple bikini that showed way too much Kyou, and I was a little worried that if she leaned down she'd fall right out of her top. And blame me for it, of course.

Fujibayashi's was more conservative, which wasn't surprising; the top of her light-blue suit wasn't quite a shirt, but it did cover half of her tummy as well as any cleavage. Considering how…chesty…she was, getting that much covered was impressive in and of itself. Her swim shorts covered about as much as those that cyclists wore. All in all, she was nice to look at.

Sakagami's was…the hell? I quickly looked away, surprised at what people could do with string these days. Her hair covered more of her, for crying out loud!

"What's the matter? Don't you like my swimsuit?" I heard her say.

"I don't know," I tried joking. "Let me know when you put it on."

"Told you he wouldn't like it," Kyou taunted. "Tomoya's a good boy who doesn't like girls who flaunt themselves."

"Onee-chan…yours doesn't cover much more," Fujibayashi noted.

"It's fine," Kyou said soothingly. "Right, Tomoya?"

"It does cover more," I replied, using a technicality to save my life. I still looked away from her, though, because my eyes were for another girl. "Where's Mei?"

"I'm here," I heard my girlfriend reply. I looked toward her voice…and was stunned.


	24. Appreciation

**Chapter Twenty-Four: Appreciation**

Mei fidgeted, twisting her body side to side. "Wh-What do you think of my swimsuit?"

I couldn't help but smile. "You win."

Somehow she knew exactly what I liked. She wore a simple light-blue one-piece swimsuit. Even granting that Mei didn't have much to flaunt in the first place, it was nice to see her modesty on display instead of her skin. Her hair was down, flowing around her face and shoulders. All she needed was the set of wings to look like an angel. To me, at least.

"Whoa, really cute!" Kyou said. "Perfect for the underdeveloped middle-schooler."

I felt what must have been righteous indignation as Mei's face fell, and shot to my feet. "Perfect for the woman who respects her body, of course," I said, barely in control of my anger. "She has the confidence to not show herself off like many other women do." I relaxed as her face lit up again. "You look beautiful, Mei."

"Thank you," Mei said, trembling. "I was afraid you wouldn't like it."

I smiled as I wrapped her in a hug. "Like I said: You look beautiful, Mei."

She tensed up for a moment, but it wasn't long before she returned the hug, and I chuckled inwardly as she rubbed her face against my chest.

She suddenly disappeared from our embrace, and I quickly looked to find her several feet away. "I'm sorry!" she cried with her fists balled under her chin.

"Mei?" I was a little confused by the sudden change in atmosphere. "What's wrong?"

"Ah, you've upset Mei-chan," Kyou chimed in a singsong tone. "Did you try to cop a feel on her, you perv?"

"I didn't try to…you know what? Shut up, Kyou!" I left her to yet another back-and-forth with Sakagami as I carefully approached my girlfriend. "Mei?" I stopped what I hoped was a respectful distance away and held out a hand. "Did I do something wrong?"

"No! I did!" she wailed. "That's why I said 'I'm sorry'!"

"You did?" I was so used to my sex always being at fault that this was a surprise. "I-I don't understand; what did you do?"

She said nothing but kept her hands balled under her chin. She wouldn't look at me, which kinda hurt.

"I don't know what you're beating yourself up over, but I'm not going to." I walked up to her and gently rested a hand on her shoulder. "I'd like to help you if you'll let me." I looked around at the crowded beach. "We could go somewhere private and talk, if that would help."

She still said nothing but nodded; at least that was something.

* * *

"Thank you," she said quietly as she took the can of tea from me. "I was just…really surprised."

"What happened?" I asked softly. I didn't want to pressure her too much, but it was clear to me that whatever was bothering her was really upsetting.

"I…had a naughty thought."

I felt the blood drain from my face. Had I heard correctly? "Huh?"

She put the can on the tabletop and started squirming in her seat. "I had a naughty thought about you, Tomoya," she confessed.

Now I was starting to feel awkward, and I started to get up from my seat. "Hey, uh, if you don't want to talk about this I'll under-"

"No!" She grabbed onto my arm, and I looked down to see intensity in her eyes. "I need to tell you so you can forgive me!"

I slowly settled back into my seat, stunned that any girl would have naughty thoughts about me, let alone my girlfriend. "O-Okay. D-Do you really want to tell me what you were thinking?"

Her face flared red and she looked down at the ground between our chairs. "No. Yes."

Mixed feelings; I knew what those were like. "Well, if you need some time…I'll wait until you're ready."

I watched as she continued to fidget in her seat, occasionally sighing, but never letting go of my arm.

Finally, she spoke: "When I was rubbing my face against you – and I didn't even know I was until all of a sudden– I thought about how nice your body felt. Your muscles and stuff. How good it felt to be held by you."

I almost laughed before I remembered that she was a still middle-schooler and had a different environment at school, and that she would see stuff like that differently because she was a girl. So I laid a hand on top of her head. "If it helps, Mei, I'm not upset. In fact, it makes me happy that you think that way."

"Huh?"

"I'm not sure how to explain it, but…we guys don't want to be cute like girls do, but we do like it when girls admire our muscles." I carefully removed my arm from her grip and flexed it like a bodybuilder. "I know I'm not a muscular guy like in movies, but when you say you like what I have, I want to make it even better for you."

Her eyes widened. "Really?"

I nodded and gave my chest a thump with my fist. "Yeah! If you like my chest muscles, well…I'll make them better! Or bigger! Or something!"

"Wow…" she breathed. "I never thought of that."

"It's like your hair," I said. "When I mentioned your twintails, it wasn't long after that that you took them out, right?" At her nod I continued. "It's like that. One of us says something about the other person that we like, and the other person tries to change it...or try to make it better, really."

Her expression had finally changed from forlorn to hopeful. "So what I was thinking wasn't naughty?"

I wanted to be very careful with my answer so I took some time to think about it. "I think…as long as you still like who I am as a person, and this other stuff because it's part of me, then I think it's fine." I gestured to her. "It's like your hair. I like your hair because it's your hair. Or something like that," I finished lamely.

I guess she got the message; her eyes glistened, so I reached over and held her as she cried her relief into my chest.


	25. Pain

**Chapter Twenty-Five: Pain**

Mei leaned into me as we watched the bonfire. Yohei and Nagisa were trying to roast marshmallows over it while her dad tried to not laugh at their efforts. The twins sat a short distance away, with Fujibayashi watching as Sakagami tried to stop Kyou from eating all of the marshmallows out of the bag.

I looked down at Mei to see her with her eyes closed and a peaceful smile on her face. It made my chest swell to think that I was part of the reason she could smile like that.

Yohei plopped down next to me and held out a small black cube. "You want a marshmallow?"

I kept myself from laughing just in case Mei was asleep. "No thanks," I whispered. "And keep your voice down; I think your sister's sleeping."

"I'm not sleeping," murmured a contented voice. "I'm just…listening."

"You want a charcoal briquette? Your brother just roasted one," I said, earning me a dirty look from my best friend.

"No thank you," Mei replied. "I'm perfectly fine."

Yohei studied the two of us for a moment before smiling as he got to his feet. "Okay. Have fun, you two."

Other than the sounds of Kyou and Sakagami fighting, it was quiet for a while as Mei and I watched the bonfire burn. The dancing of the flames had a somewhat hypnotic effect on me, and I found myself starting to nod off…

"Tomoya?"

I blinked, snapping my head back up. "Y-Yeah, Mei?"

There was a noticeable silence before she spoke again. "Am I extra-special to you yet?"

What a strange question. "Huh?"

She sat up, so I turned to look at her expression. "Am I extra-special to you yet, Tomoya?"

My confusion must have shown on my face. "I don't understand; what do you mean 'extra-special'?" Her face fell, and I had a bad feeling… "Mei, have I forgotten something?"

She nodded with tears pooling in her eyes. "Yeah. Something really important."

My stomach slithered to my sandals. "I'm really sorry, Mei. Would you remind me what it was? It may have just gotten lost in how busy we've been."

She gave me a look of loss, that…the feeling it caused in me was indescribable. She didn't say anything, but she tilted her head back, closed her eyes, and slightly puckered her lips…

"Oh my god…" I shuddered. "How could I forget something that important?" I could feel a pressure behind my own eyes. Wasn't this supposed to be important to me, too? I grabbed her in a hug. "Mei, I'm so sorry! I…I…I don't know why I forgot!"

She sobbed quietly as I held her; this was more important to her than I apparently realized. I bit my lip as I wracked my brain trying to figure out a way to help her feel better.

I couldn't come up with anything, so I admitted my failure: "Mei, I don't know what to do. I didn't mean to forget. What can I do to make this right?"

She shook her head but didn't try to push me away. "I don't know either," she sobbed. "Just…just hold me, okay?"

Finally! Something I could do! I carefully pulled her into my lap and held her. She wrapped her arms around my head and we held each other the way we both liked.

After a time of quiet, she spoke: "I forgive you, Tomoya. Please don't forget again."

"I won't, Mei…I promise."

* * *

"You lovebirds make me sick!" Kyou complained for the umpteenth time as we rode the train home. As usual, the twins sat together with Sakagami, Yohei and Nagisa snuggled together, and Mei leaned against me.

"Shut up Kyou," I repeated for the umpteenth time in return. Deciding to change my response up a little I added, "What about those two?" I pointed over at Yohei and Nagisa, who had fallen asleep while holding each other.

Kyou sniffed. "At least they weren't all over each other like you two!"

"Onee-chan…"

"We weren't 'all over each other'. We had a problem and we worked it out. End of story."

"And the 'end of story' always seems to end with her in your lap, doesn't it?" Kyou nearly snarled.

This female was starting to get on my nerves. "What the hell is your problem, Kyou?" Out of the corner of my eye I saw Yohei start to stir, and I was relieved that we were the only ones in this car. "Ever since summer start-no, wait…since Mei and I started dating, you've been nastier to me than usual!"

"Yeah, Kyou, what's eating you?" Yohei chimed in. It was strange; he had a knowing smile on his face for some reason. "Why don't you tell us?"

Kyou drew in a deep breath and I was glad that she didn't have a book with her; it would likely have found its way into Yohei's forehead. Or mine. "None of your business," she growled.

"If you're being nastier to me because of it, then it is my business," I countered. Then I sighed; being nasty back wouldn't solve anything. "I'm sorry, Kyou. I'd like to help you if I can. Really."

My eyes widened as Kyou shuddered so violently that I thought it would shake the train car.

"S-STOP IT!" she yelled. "Stop being nice to me!" she looked at me with wild eyes and clenched her fists so tightly that I was worried that she'd draw blood. "I'm an idiot…and I'll misunderstand you…"

"Onee-chan…" Fujibayashi breathed as Mei and I looked at each other with wide eyes.

"Misunderstand what?" Sakagami had asked the question, but when I looked to her, her expression was one of someone who already knew the answer.

I finally remembered that we had a grownup nearby, and I looked to Nagisa's dad for help. But he simply sat there, arms crossed, watching us. Either he didn't care or, more likely, he wanted us to work this out ourselves. He was either a crummy dad or a great dad. Considering how Nagisa turned out…

I looked back to see that Kyou had buried her face in her hands, breathing heavily, with Fujibayashi rubbing her back; trying to calm her down, I assumed.

Kyou suddenly sat up, threw her head back with eyes squeezed shut and yelled: "I love you, Tomoya, you idiot!"

* * *

Fujibayashi continued to apologize as she started to walk her distraught sister home from the train station. Sakagami went with them, with a hand on Kyou's back. I could see that, in spite of their arguments, she was a very caring friend.

Yohei, Nagisa, and her dad also watched them go. "She'll be all right," Nagisa's dad said before lighting his cigarette. "She's needed to say that for a long time, I think." He nudged his daughter. "Good thing you talked to Brat when you did, or you could've ended up like that."

"Dad!" Nagisa protested, blushing madly.

I gasped as I suddenly saw Nagisa laying in a futon. I was holding one of her hands with both of mine and she was saying something to me but I couldn't hear it. She then fell asleep, but somehow I knew-

I saw a hand waving in front of my face. "Yo, Okazaki! Earth to Okazaki!" Yohei said.

"Tomoya?" Mei's voice sounded concerned.

I shook my head to try to clear it. That dream seemed so real… "S-Sorry, I guess I'm tired." I chuckled awkwardly. "I'm sleeping standing up, I guess."

"L-Let's go home," Mei prompted.

"S-Sure." I was still a little rattled by what I had seen, so as Mei and I left I took hold of Yohei's arm. "Take good care of Nagisa, okay?"

He gave me an understandably puzzled look. "Um, sure thing."


	26. Yearning

**Chapter Twenty-Six: Yearning**

I cracked my eyes opened to a mostly-dark room. A glance over at the clock told me it was eight-thirty in the morning. "Ugh…"

The day before had been quite the adventure. We had gone to the beach to celebrate all our hard work, but instead we ended up with a drama involving swimsuits, a drama involving kissing, and a drama involving Kyou. Truth be told, I felt more drained after the celebration than before.

I started to stretch, only to feel my arm weighed down. "Huh?" I pulled the covers back and uttered an R-rated word.

Mei, still in her clothes from yesterday, slept peacefully on my arm. She had a small smile on her face as she slept with her hands folded under her chin. It took my breath away again at how adorable she was.

But she was in my bed! I quickly but carefully slid my arm out from under her and slapped myself awake as I hurried downstairs to the phone and quickly dialed the number to the boys' dorm.

" _Hikarizaka Boy's Dorm. This is Sagara."_

"Sagara-san!" I panicked in a whispered tone. "Please tell me Yohei's there!"

" _Sunohara? Yeah. In fact, he's headed this way right now."_ I heard her talking briefly with him. _"Here he is."_

A rustle. _"Tomoya?"_

"Yohei I swear I don't know why Mei's here at my place and sleeping in my bed I swear I didn't do anything to her I didn't ask her to stay and honestly I don't remember much of what happened after getting off the train last night and-"

" _Whoa, Okazaki, slow down!"_

I took a slow, deep breath. "Sorry. It's just that I woke up this morning to find Mei in bed with me, and I panicked."

" _Yeah, I get that. Have you asked her about it yet?"_

"No, she's not up yet. At least she wasn't when I came downstairs."

A pause. _"Look, all I know is that you seemed pretty upset when we got you home, so Mei asked if she could keep you company for a while. I came back here and started reading and the next thing I knew I woke up at about seven. I was just heading out for a short run when you called."_

"Okay, I get it." I didn't know how much I got, but I was just glad that Yohei knew about her being here. "Did she tell you that she'd be here all night?"

" _Naw, man; I don't think_ _she_ _even knew what she was doing."_ Another pause. _"Look Tomoya, the reason I said I didn't mind her having you as a boyfriend is because of stuff like this."_

"What do you mean?"

His voice became intense. _"You're not like other guys our age! You like girls, yeah, but you're not like that! I know you wouldn't take advantage of my sister because you're not that kind of guy."_

I blinked; I guess he had more faith in me than I did.

" _Anyway, it sounds like you two have a lot to talk about, so I'm getting off the phone. I'm late for my run, anyway."_

"All right, Yohei. Thanks."

" _Yeah, later."_

"Tomoya?" I turned as I hung up the phone to find Mei coming down the stairs, rubbing her eyes. "Are you okay?"

I licked my lips. "Yeah…well, I think so." I made my way over and put my hands on her shoulders. "Are you okay? I didn't…do anything…to you, did I?"

"No." Wait, was that a look of disappointment on her face? It was gone as quickly as it had come, but… "I was too tired to go back to Nii-san's place, so I stayed here. I hope that was okay."

'Nii-san'? Well, first things first: "Mei: why were you in my bed?"

She shifted her weight from one foot to the other as she looked at the floor. "I was…lonely."

"But-"

"We didn't do this or that!" she blurted. "I just missed you and wanted to be with you! Honest!"

I felt myself relax and smiled softly. "Thanks, Mei. I've missed you, too." She smiled briefly but kept on fidgeting. "Something still bothering you?"

"Tomoya…? Tomoya…?"

I leaned down to try to see her face. "Yeah?"

"I really wanted…I wanted…"

"What did you want?" I asked, still trying to see her face.

She suddenly grabbed me in a hug, burying her face in my shirt and her next words came out muffled, but I could hear them clear as day: "I really wanted to do this and that with you!"

My blood froze. A boy and a girl, by themselves in a home… "Mei, we'd…we'd better go outside."

"No!" she cried. "I want you!"

"Mei…" Talking was becoming difficult, with the walls closing in the way they were. "We can't do this. Or that. I'd go to prison. But more than that…" I licked my lips again. "That's just not who I am, Mei. Why do you want this so badly, anyway?"

She pulled away to look up at me with teary eyes. "Because I won't see you for a long time, Tomoya!" Heaved sobs started to interrupt her words. "You're going to go back to school and be around pretty girls like Sakagami-senpai and Kyou-senpai and I'll be so far away!"

So that was it; she was feeling insecure. I took her face in my hands and looked her in the eyes. "Listen up, Mei: I don't care about Sakagami and Kyou and Fujibayashi and whoever like that, you got it? They're friends. Friends!" I paused to wipe her tears away with my thumbs. "I fell in love with you, Sunohara Mei! You! So it doesn't matter how far away we are from each other with however many Kyous and Sakagamis between us; my eyes are for you, you got it?"

"But Tomoya…"

"Do you think so little of me that you think I'd fall for the nearest skirt or shortest skirt or something?"

I swore she almost turned green; I didn't think she realized how her words could be taken. "NO!" she cried. "You're a good man, Tomoya!"

I placed a gentle kiss on her forehead. "Then believe in me, okay? I know I'm not very smart or wise, but I do know when I have a good thing, and I have a very good thing with you."

I guess she had run out of words, because she simply cried.

"So we don't need to do this or that," I concluded as I pulled her back into a hug. "We just need to enjoy the rest of our time together, see each other off at the train station, and…" I had to swallow a lump in my throat. "…and talk to each other over the phone a lot, okay?"

I felt her nod against my chest, still sniffling.

* * *

Several hours later I woke from my nap and smiled as I found her asleep in my lap, with her arms wrapped around my shoulders.


	27. Departure

**Chapter Twenty-Seven: Departure**

It was a somber mood as we stood around at the train station waiting for Mei's train to come. We hadn't heard anything from the teams we had sent the applications to, so I think we were all fighting a sense of failure as well. At least I was.

"I'm sorry we didn't get anything back from them in time, Mei," I said for the umpteenth time. "I really wanted you to see your brother succeed."

"It's okay," she replied. "I know you did your best. Nii-san did his best, too, so I think everything'll be okay."

Yohei gave us a thumbs-up. "There's still a lot of school left, so there's still a lot of time before the end of the year!"

She and I exchanged smiles at his enthusiasm. "I believe you'll be accepted, Nii-san," she said.

"And here we go with the sugar shock again," we heard Kyou say, and the three of us turned to see the twins and Sakagami approaching. "You three make me nauseous."

"Onee-chan…say something nice for a change, please?" Fujibayashi said in an unusually forceful tone…forceful for her, that is.

Kyou simply 'humphed'.

"I, for one, am glad to have met you," Sakagami said as she reached out to shake my girlfriend's hand. "I know we didn't get to talk much, but I enjoyed the conversations we did have."

"Thank you very much," Mei replied as she ducked her head shyly.

The student body president nodded approvingly. "I don't have any real power at the school, but if you want to enroll for next year, I'll put in a good word for you."

"Thank you very much," Mei repeated.

Sakagami then looked up and gazed at me for an uncomfortably long time, with the corner of her mouth twitching occasionally. "C-Congratulations," was all she eventually said to me.

Mei and I exchanged smiles before giving each other a squeeze. "Thanks," we said nearly in unison.

Oddly, Sakagami didn't smile with us; in fact, she looked kinda lost as she turned and started arguing with Kyou about…something. Probably her attitude. I'd never understand those two.

"It was very nice meeting you," Fujibayashi said, drawing our attention. "I hope you can visit again soon. We could spend more time together next time."

"Thank you." Mei seemed bolder this time; maybe it was because Fujibayashi was even more timid than she was. "I'd like that."

We made small talk until we saw the train arrive. I was facing away from the train, but I could tell from the way Mei suddenly squeezed me…I swallowed a lump in my throat. "It's coming, huh?"

She nodded, teary eyed.

"You'll call me when you get home, right? Let me know you got home safely?"

Another nod.

I knew the train would be at the station for a few minutes, so I took Mei by the hand and excused us from the group to go somewhere relatively private. "Before you get on the train, Mei, I need to tell you something."

She nodded solemnly. "Okay."

"But," I said as I put my hand to her face, "I'm not going to use any words, okay?"

"Huh?"

Without giving her any other warning, I ducked my head down to gently place my lips against hers.

Her response was immediate: she wrapped her arms around my neck while keeping her lips pressed against mine as she started to cry.

Our 'first kiss' wasn't a passionate kiss; it was a tender one and an honest one. It was the perfect kiss for us. No pawing, none of the theatrics like I'd seen in movies or at school; just two people who loved each other showing each other their love.

We eventually broke the kiss and found ourselves pressed tightly against one another. She had stopped crying but her breath shuddered, her head resting on my chest as we simply held each other. "D-Does this mean what I think it means, Tomoya?"

"If you're thinking that this means you're extra-special to me, then yeah, it means what you think it means," I replied. "Sorry it took so long."

She giggled lightly as she dabbed at her eyes with the back of her hand. "It's okay. If it means I can have this, then it's been worth the wait."

I led us over to a nearby bench, sat down, and drew her into my lap. Out of sight of the others we kissed several times more, and I found myself amazed at how much love and affection could come from such a small girl. Or from someone like me, for that matter.

"We need to go," I finally had to say.

All she could do was nod sadly. "Yeah, I know."

She slid off my lap and took my arm as I got up. We slowly walked back to the main platform where the train still waited.

When we returned I let go of her so she could say her goodbyes to Yohei. "Nii-san," she cried; our goodbyes were a lot more emotional than last time. Then again, we'd accomplished a lot more than last time, and grown a lot because of it.

"Be a good girl, Mei. Make your brother proud," Yohei said as he returned her hug. I hadn't really noticed before, but he'd lost that part of himself that made his such a good target for picking on. 'Buttmonkey'; yeah, he was no longer the 'buttmonkey'. I smiled at the thought.

As the others watched, Yohei and I walked Mei up to the door to one of the train cars. "Well…I know I can call any time, but say 'hi' to Mom and Dad for me anyway, 'k?" Yohei asked.

"You bet," Mei replied in a shuddering voice. Then she turned to me and stared at me. I knew she was memorizing as much of me as she could, and I stared right back. Finally, she threw her arms around my neck to pull me down for one last kiss. Then she quickly boarded the train just before the doors closed.

I felt like my heart was being pulled out of my chest as the train started moving, picking up speed. Mei and I kept our eyes locked as long as possible. The train completely left the station, and she was gone.

I staggered over to a ceiling support and leaned heavily on it; I'd never felt pain like this before, and it nearly took my legs out from under me.

A hand thrust itself into my field of view, and I looked to find my best friend with a sympathetic smile on his face. "Let's get you home, eh Tomoya? You'll be expecting a call, right?"

I managed to chuckle in spite of the ache in my chest. "Yeah, you're right." I reached out and gripped his hand, letting him pull me upright again. "Let's go home."

As the five of us left the station I still found myself looking back several times to where the train had left carrying my Mei.


	28. One Last Hurdle?

**Chapter Twenty-Eight: One Last Hurdle?**

I jumped as the phone rang and I grabbed it almost before it could finish the first ring. "Hello?"

" _Tomoya?"_

I breathed a sigh of relief. "Did you get home okay?"

" _Yeah. It was lonely without you, but I got home safely."_ Before I could respond she spoke again: _"Listen…my dad's not really happy about this."_

Red flags rose. "About us?"

" _Yeah. I told him about us right after I got home, and he got really upset."_ A pause. _"I think he's mad because I did this without talking to him first."_

"He didn't seem too mad when you came up here in April."

" _Well, that was different. When he found out that I was trying to help Nii-san he calmed down immediately. But this…"_

"You came to help your brother again, though, didn't you?"

" _Well yeah, that was my plan, but…I didn't plan on falling in love."_

I felt my face heat up at her words. "I…could see how that could change his thoughts on things, yeah."

" _Yeah."_

I scratched my head as I thought about how I could help her. "Would…would it help if I came up there and met him? We still have a few days left of vacation, so I could-"

" _Dad, stop it!"_

I could hear her arguing with who I assumed to be her dad on the other end of the call. "Mei, if he wants to talk to me, give him the phone!" I hoped that she could hear me.

" _Who's this?"_ a new voice demanded. _"You the one trying to steal my daughter from me?"_

"My name is Okazaki Tomoya, sir." Jeez, were all dads protective like this? I suddenly sympathized with what Yohei must have been going through with Nagisa's dad. "I'm not trying to steal her from anyone; honest."

" _Okazaki, huh? Wait…you're Yohei's friend, aren't you?"_

"Yes, sir."

" _You! Don't go anywhere! I'll be there tomorrow!"_ And before I could reply he had hung up on me.

I hung up the phone, thought for a minute, then called the boys' dorm.

After the usual routine, Yohei got on the phone. _"What's up?"_

"Listen, I just had a…an interesting talk with your dad."

" _Whaddya mean?"_ he asked, sounding genuinely curious.

I told him about our brief, but intense conversation. When I finished, there was silence on the other end for nearly a full minute. "Yohei?"

" _AaaaaahahahahahahaHAAAAA!"_ I had never heard him laugh so hard in the two years of our friendship.

"What's so funny?" I demanded.

" _He's just giving you crap, Tomoya,"_ he answered, still chuckling. _"He probably just wants to see how well you handle pressure or something."_

"Should I be worried?"

" _Naw man, just be yourself! Treat him right and he'll treat you right, got it? Stand up for yourself if you have to, but respect him."_

I sighed as I nodded, finally feeling a smile spread across my face. "Got it. Thanks."

" _Anything else? I gotta go, I've got a date with Nagisa and her parents."_

"Lucky bastard."

" _You know it. So…that it?"_

"Yeah, that's it. Thanks, Yohei."

" _Laters!"_

* * *

I still felt nervous, though, as I stood at the station platform and waited for Sunohara-san's train to arrive. After our 'conversation' Mei called me again and, in whispered tones, told me what train her dad would be taking and what time he would arrive.

I found myself almost shaking as the train rounded the curve just before the station and tugged at my collar. I had chosen to wear my school uniform for the meeting since it was the nicest clothing I had.

The train pulled up, the doors opened and, to my surprise, Mei charged out first with her arms wide. "Tomoya!"

My heart leaped as I saw my girl run toward me. "Mei! What-" I didn't get to finish as she launched herself into me, and I reflexively lifted her up and twirled her around.

"Put my daughter down!" I heard an authoritative voice demand, nearly causing me to drop her. I carefully slowed our spin and set her on the ground gently. Then I turned to face…the hell…?

Mei's dad stood just outside the train car in what looked like some kind of anime pose. He stood sideways to me, with his leading arm fully extended all the way to the index finger pointed straight at me. His trailing arm was up at head level, his hand in a fist. I had to stifle a laugh.

"Dad, this is Tomoya, the one I was-"

"I know who this is!" he interrupted as he dropped his arms and stomped toward me, both hands now fists.

I instinctively moved Mei behind me. He may have been her dad, but if anything bad happened I still didn't want her to see it.

"This boy who is trying to steal my daughter from me," he yelled, "is a delinquent, a sluggard, a good-for-nothing…"

I kept quiet as he ranted, figuring he was trying to get a rise out of me. Well, I wouldn't give him that pleasure.

It turned out a response wasn't necessary as his rant changed tone. "…a dedicated friend, a persevering young man, and a gentleman!" He finished as he stopped before me and crossed his arms. "What do you have to say to that?"

Even though I had tried to be ready for anything I still found myself stunned with how quickly and easily he had changed tone. "Th-Thanks?"

He burst into laughter as he reached out and clapped me on my shoulder – my left one, thankfully. "Are you hungry, Okazaki-san?"

If I had to be honest… "A little, sir. I, uh…was kinda nervous this morning for some reason. Did wonders for my appetite."

He laughed his contagious laugh again. "I'll bet, I'll bet." He dropped his hand and regarded me for a moment. "Know any good restaurants around here? I'm starving. You, Mei-chan?"

I had almost forgotten that Mei was there until she came around from behind me. "Yeah, Dad; we left so early that I didn't have much time to eat."

"Well, what can I say?" He leveled his gaze at me. "I might have been a little anxious, myself." He laughed yet again, and I found myself smiling at his cheerful attitude as he clapped his hands together. "Well, Tomoya-san? Lead the way!"


	29. Lunch with the Father

**Chapter Twenty-Nine: Lunch with the Father**

"Ah, now this is nice!" Mei's dad exclaimed as we entered the restaurant. "Nothing like this at home!"

"Don't you have restaurants?" I asked as a waitress seated us. "I'd tease Yohei about where he lived, but I didn't really think…"

"Tomoya!" Mei cried, causing my face to heat up. "You think we live in the country or something?"

"We do have restaurants, but they're smaller than this," Sunohara-san replied. "More like the size of a café, but they are nice."

We talked about the weather and other mundane topics until our food arrived.

"Mm!" Mei's dad exclaimed between bites. "Haven't had food like this in a while."

"Dad," Mei complained. "You said you were coming here to investigate Tomoya."

"'Interrogate' was the word, but you're right." He set down his chopsticks. "I hear you've been filling out some kind of paperwork to help Yohei get into professional soccer."

"That's right."

"Why?"

"Why?" I repeated. "Good question; I haven't thought about it in a while…'cause I've been busy doing it, I guess." I rubbed at my face as I thought back. "At first, it was because of Mei."

"T-Tomoya…" Mei squired in her seat.

"No, seriously," I said, turning toward her. "You had a head full of steam about it just like in April, and it got me interested. But," I said, turning back toward her dad, "eventually I saw how serious Yohei was about the whole thing, and I guess I wanted to see how far he could go." I spread my hands. "I want to see him succeed."

Sunohara-san rested his elbows in the table, his chin on his folded hands and fixed his gaze on me. "Hm."

"See Dad? He helped me and he's helping Nii-san."

I saw his eyebrows jump at the same time mine did; maybe he noticed the change in the way she mentioned her brother too? "Indeed," was all he said, though.

We continued to eat, with Mei occasionally trying to tell her dad about my 'virtues'. The elder Sunohara sat quietly, eating his meal and occasionally looking at his daughter or me.

After we finished our meals, he ordered a cup of coffee. "A bad habit of mine," he explained. "Hopefully you won't begrudge me this one indulgence."

I wasn't sure what 'begrudge' meant, but it sounded like a bad thing, so… "I won't; enjoy yourself, sir."

He wrinkled his nose at me. "About that…don't call me 'sir'; I keep thinking you're talking to my old man." He thrust his hand across the table, causing Mei and I to jump. "Sunohara Jubei…call me Jubei-san if you would, please."

I felt a little confused as I took his hand. First name? Does this mean he accepts me? "Okazaki Tomoya. C-Call me whatever you're comfortable with."

"Tomoya-kun?" he tried.

I gasped as several memories plowed through my mind; the first was, of course, my dad, causing a feeling of revulsion. The second was interesting, though. For the briefest of moments I saw a girl in a white dress, her face covered by a white veil covering dark purple hair partly tied up in beaded ornaments. The sight gave me a feeling of…nostalgia?

The third and last one was more surreal; a short girl with long brown hair with a purple bow tied toward the end of it stood facing me in the park in front of Furukawa Bakery.

"Tomoya? You okay?"

I shook my head to clear it. "Weird. It's like when we were leaving after the beach trip. I saw…stuff."

"Mei-chan, he doesn't do drugs does he?"

I straightened up immediately. "No, I don't! I think I'm just a little tired." I allowed myself to relax. "It's been an exciting summer."

I heard a chuckle from across the table and looked up to see Jubei smiling at me. "It's okay, Tomoya-san; I'm just giving you a hard time." He made a point of stretching. "I'll occasionally 'zone out' myself, so don't worry about it."

I breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank you, sir."

"Jubei," he corrected.

"Thank you, Jubei-san," I corrected in turn.

"Anyway, I suppose that 'Tomoya-kun' is out of the question, then?" he asked.

"Yeah," I reluctantly agreed. "Just 'Tomoya' would be good, if you're okay with that."

"That's fine," he replied. "So, what do you like about my daughter?"

I blinked; I had been expected him to ask some form of that question, but it came out-of-the-blue which surprised me. Fortunately, I had given the subject quite a bit of thought. "She's all about others," I said.

"Explain."

"Well…" I scratched at my face. "…when she first came here a few months ago, she was all-concerned about her brother doing well." I smiled at the memories. "She thought of and tried so many things…and had me thinking of and trying things, too."

"Like pretending to date my daughter?"

I blinked in surprise again before looking to Mei. "You told him?"

She nodded bashfully. "I thought it would help him understand how we ended up like this."

"You're not wrong," I mused. Getting back to Jubei's question I said, "Anyway, because of all that I ended up kinda motivated to overcome…my old self? To stop letting my past tell me how my future would be."

"To stop dictating your future?" Jubei offered.

"Yeah," I said, nodding. "To stop dictating my future." I smiled awkwardly. "Looks like I need to work on my vocabulary more, though."

"It'll come with experience," he said reassuringly. "You're still young."

"Thanks. So…right now, that's pretty much it. I like how she's about other people…I admire that. I look forward to learning more about her and finding other things to like about her."

"T-Tomoya," Mei stammered, her face nearly scarlet.

Jubei chuckled lightly before looking to his daughter. "What about you, Mei-chan? What do you see in this lunk?"

"Lunk?" I protested before settling down at his wink.

We both watched as she squirmed in her seat, glancing up at her dad or at me. "I…I also like how he thinks about other people."

"Huh?" Did I hear her right. "Mei, I'm actually pretty selfish, you know."

"No you're not!" she cried, latching onto my arm. Looking around at the eyes on our table she lowered her voice. "No you're not. You've been all about me and all about Nii-san. You're a very giving man, Tomoya!"

It was my turn to blush. "I…I…"

A rap on the table pulled me out of my embarrassment. "All right, I've heard enough." Jubei declared. "You two have my blessing…provided you behave yourselves, both of you," he finished, giving his daughter a meaningful look.

Just like that, I was accepted. Weird.


	30. Epilogue: The Professional

**Epilogue: The Professional**

"Hey, kid."

The high-schooler turned to me and his eyes widened. "Wait…you're him, aren't you?" I removed my shades to allow him a better look and his eyes widened. "A-Are you here to recruit me?"

I smiled at his anxiety; I remembered being like that once. "That depends; what do you have to offer a team?"

He visibly swallowed before taking the ball out to show me his 'techs'. I replaced my shades and took notes as I watched.

When he came back all sweaty I asked him, "What year are you?"

"Second, sir."

I grimaced as I made a note. "Don't call me 'sir', kid. I have a name."

He paled. "I'm a second-year, Okazaki-san."

"Name?"

"Sagawa Junichi."

I nodded thoughtfully. "I don't recruit second-years, Sagawa-san," I said coolly. "Work on your skills and keep your nose clean and I'll see about finding you next year. Got it?"

He nodded vigorously. "Yes, si-I mean, Okazaki-san. May I shake your hand?"

So, the kid had guts; that would take him a long way, but… "Why?"

"I've heard so much about you…it's an honor to meet you."

Crap; the kid had touched my heart but I couldn't let it show. I did allow a smile to flicker, though. "No, it's not an honor to meet me. But…" I reached out and shook his hand, "if I can recruit you next year, then I will consider it an honor to have met you."

One of the things I always enjoyed about my job was seeing 'potentials' glow from my praise. "Thank you. Thank you! I'll do my best, you'll see!"

I let another smile flicker. "I'll look forward to it." I turned to leave the school grounds. "Take it easy, superstar."

I left the grounds to the sound of yet another potential recruit whooping in celebration and yelling stuff like 'Wait 'til I tell the guys!' among other things.

Mei was waiting for me by the gate. "How'd it go?"

I removed my shades again, this time sticking them in my pocket. "He's got potential, that's for sure." I sighed. "As long as he keeps up on his skills and doesn't do anything stupid I'd love to recruit him next year."

My wife smiled as she brushed some dust from my 'uniform'; a black suit with white shirt, black shoes and, of course, mirrored sunglasses. I couldn't afford the ensemble until after my second recruiting, but it was worth it. "You look hot, Tomoya."

I lightly tugged at my collar. "It is pretty warm today."

"That too."

I looked down to see a glow in my wife's eyes and smiled. "'Clothes make the man', right?"

She shook her head as she gently gripped my lapel. "No, the man makes the man. The clothes just help."

I chuckled as I took her in my arms. "Thanks, Mei." I gave her a squeeze as I kissed the top of her head, eliciting a sigh. "I couldn't have made it this far without you."

"Hey," she said, pulling away to take my arm as we started toward the train station. "We both did it; you worked hard for this, didn't you?"

Indeed I had. While Yohei wasn't able to start with a high-level team, he was able to work his way up the ranks, eventually being recruited by the Kashima Antlers.

He tried to give me all the credit during his introductory press conference. "If it wasn't for my sister Mei and my buddy Okazaki Tomoya, I wouldn't have been able to make it this far."

I had to deal with a bunch of reporters after that, but it had gotten me thinking; maybe I could help kids who wanted to get into sports by being an advocate of sorts. I hated the idea of being tied down to one team or another, so I became an independent contractor, finding new talent and 'selling' it to the highest bidder. I'd find the kids, coach them when needed, and get their names in front of potential employers. Apparently I had a good eye for talent, because…well, it wasn't long before Mei and I were living comfortably. I sent money to Dad as an apology of sorts for being a crappy son and so he could live comfortably, too.

I took on the gruff persona because the world of business, which these kids would be getting into, can be brutal, and I wanted them ready for it. So I would act as a 'bridge' to get them used to the idea of rough people.

I nodded in response to her question. "Yeah, you're right…but it was your tenacity that encouraged me to do this; thank you, cutie."

She blushed at my use of her nickname. I knew that Japanese didn't usually use nicknames, but I also knew that I didn't care; I wanted to remind her how cute she was often as I could. "Wh-What do you want for dinner?"

I scratched my head. "Whatever you feel like making. I'm just glad to be eating your cooking after being gone for so long. A week in Tokyo just doesn't compare." I had been gone due to negotiations, so I was starved for my girl's cooking.

She giggled. "Well then, 'whatever', coming up!"

"Hey, thought we'd find you here!" called a familiar voice. Mei and I looked to see Yohei and Nagisa on the side of the street opposite from us. Judging from the bags he was carrying, they must have just been grocery shopping. "Scouting out Sagawa?"

"You know about him, eh?" I asked as we crossed the street. "Yeah, but I won't be looking into recruiting him until next year." I gestured to the baby in Nagisa's arms. "How's she doing?"

"Ushio? She's fine," Nagisa replied, and I felt the familiar pang of loss that I would feel whenever I heard that name. I just chalked it up to me being weird.

"Working on any kids yet?" Yohei asked with a wink and a mischievous smirk.

Mei and I looked at each other with pale faces. "That's…let's…" I was having a hard time answering; Mei was his sister, after all. "We're just trying to get through the first year of marriage." I looked over to my wife for support to find her nodding vigorously.

"Yohei-kun!" Nagisa scolded, and for a moment I could see her mother's influence. "Really! Asking something like that!"

"A-Anyway," I said, trying to salvage my family's dignity, "It's good to see you again, both of you, but we've got to get home. 'Whatever' is waiting for us."

They gave me a puzzled look but said their goodbyes after receiving a promise of a visit.

"Let's go home, Tomoya," Mei said, taking my arm again.

We made our way home under the light of a rich orange sunset. I didn't know what tomorrow would bring, let alone next year…but with Mei by my side, I believed that I could do anything thanks to her and her resolve.

 _Rough Draft Complete_


End file.
